Tuesday, July 16, 2013

a question of time


i measure time these lazy summer days in terms of kitten growth. little frieda has come quite a long way since she was born may 22. it makes time seem to pass very quickly when you think of it like that. but at the same time, these long, light days stretch out and it feels like there's time for everything you want to do. it's ok that it takes an hour and a half to pick strawberries, because it's ok to eat at 8 p.m. when it's so light. if it takes another hour or more to hull them and get them into the steamer, that's ok too. time feels like it's enough.

at the same time, i'm acutely aware that time is rushing forward. sabin is growing up and i don't know if i've properly enjoyed her as a non teenager. and now it's fast becoming too late for that. she'll be in the 7th grade in a few short weeks. did we do enough together? should i have kept her home, to spend time with her, instead of letting her go to a summer house with a friend this week? on the other hand, she needs that essential danish summer house experience and she's not going to get it from us.

the older i get, the more time seems to rush headlong forward. my daily photos serve as a memory for me and i am sometimes amazed when i look back and a particular photo was that long ago. often it seems like just yesterday. time gets warped somehow, bent in memory. can i really be this old? have i really lived here that long? was it really so long ago we went to morocco? or spain? or that we met? it was a lifetime ago and it feels like i only just blinked and all that time passed.

so i'm grateful for the summer slowdown of time. for it stretching out and becoming all i need right here and now. and for the golden light that stretches well into the evening. i'll take that for now and try to save it up for those long winter nights.

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more on how we experience time.

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i like this essay on the treyvon martin case.
it helped me understand.
and anyone who calls himself a digital humanist is cool in my book.

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russian intelligence goes old school - with typewriters!

4 comments:

Catherine said...

I love it ~ measuring time in kitten growth. Much better than any old clock or calendar!

Cute!
xo Catherine

Molly said...

Yup. In 6 weeks time it'll be a YEAR since we moved into this house. What the actual fuck - a year????
But what is a year really and why shouldn't we measure these things in kittens growing or the number of bowls(allegedly)filled with strawberries?
I hate feeling like I'm being swept along by the hands of some invisible clock and agreed, there is no greater time-stopper then an endless mellow summer evening. Enjoy!

rayfamily said...

I always marvel at the concept of time and how we feel it moves at a given time. Great article! As to the girls, you and I are on the same track..lets enjoy now & commiserate (if necessary) later :)

will said...

II hope you're able to surf your daughters coming years. From now through her early twenties it's a sequence of experiences which alters everything that's gone before.

Some people survive their children's teens and 20s. Others are like survivors of a war ... some are shellshocked and others are toughened up enough to withstand any of life's future bricks.

Another observation - after living through your child's coming of age, most of the memories of their innocent time are sort of erased. I'd say, if it wasn't for old photos many of those early experiences would be forgotten.

Remember, wine was invented for older parents.