My daughter turns three in two days.
Then my little sister turns 36.
Mother’s Day is next.
And then my 40th birthday, in three weeks.
I want to slam on the breaks,
even as I mark down plans in my calendar for July.
Now I understand what made time feel slower when we were children:
It felt slower when we were children because we weren’t making any plans for the future. Only dreams.
Each day was entirely fresh and round, not linear like it is for adults. Not start with the alarm at 6am, then each hour whizzing by on the right like highway signs.
Children don’t count by hours. They count by fun. “I had fun that time when I….” “Remember when we went to that fun carnival?” And parents scowl and scratch their heads and try to recall it.
“Oh yes, you remember that? It was two years ago!”
Kids don’t notice the time, only the degree of fun or engagement they experience.
My son called it the best day of his life last Wednesday when I bought him a butterfly net from the $1 bin at Target, and then we went directly to a pond (actually a sewage runoff, but who’s stopping us) and chased moths and one butterfly. But it was FUN because we weren’t’ trying to be anywhere else. Mommy didn’t check her phone once. It wasn’t an hour of time. It was fun in bold, like primary colors.
So watch me now because I’m all about having FUN these next three weeks before I turn 40. And don’t let me stop there. In my next forty years, Lord, keep me silly. Keep me grounded yet laughing. Keep me in the moment that is timeless.
(This post is dedicated to the Queen of FUN, Suzanne Honeycutt)
