On time, any time, all the time

I attended the wedding reception of a neighbor's son. Also in attendance were many other neighbors, some of which I hadn't seen in over twenty-one years. Had it really been that long; where had the time gone? It didn't seem all that long ago when they moved away. I then came to the realization that "time" can be based upon the age of the individual who is doing the comparison. To a twenty-one year old, it was their entire life; to a sixty-three year old, it only represented a third of their life. Thus time is relative. The interval of time remains a constant; a week is seven days. It doesn't grow any longer or become shorter it only seems long or short to the person experiencing the interval.

We've all heard the expressions, "time and tide wait for no man" or "time marches on." To the person waiting for a one-week vacation, making the preparations, getting the tickets, etc. a week in advance may take an eternity. The actual one-week of vacation may "fly by" while the record of this vacation may last indelibly etched in our minds forever aided by photographs or digital cameras. The actual interval of time never changed only our perception of it.

Another example would be the person falling asleep or trying to fall asleep. The really exhausted individual will fall asleep as soon as their head "hits the pillow." The period of sleep will seem to be extremely short when they awaken in the morning, especially if they haven't had enough sleep. However if they are insomniacs, unable to sleep because of too much caffeine, excitement or a medical condition, the period they're awake will seem to last forever. tossing and turning in their bed. In this case the urgency of time will prevail. We are creatures of our environment, or our own creation, and of our experiences. Time will tell

K.