There have been two instances this week that have made me think about the speeding up of time.
David turned 6 on Wednesday which is impossible because surely he should only be turning 5 and then David himself told me that he will be 7 in a year’s time which makes sense, but 7 is almost grown up and out of the infants so that shouldn’t be happening for at least another five years.
Then, today we went to see Father Christmas and had a lovely lunch out. We were happily chatting when he tried to say almost casually, as if he didn’t want to offend me;
“Mummy, I think that you might be older than the other mummies at dance class.” I could see my husband hunkering down, keen to see how this played out.
“I think I probably am older than them.”
“That’s because you were born in the 70s and daddy was born in the 60s.” I agreed and thought I would try and find out why this had come up. My husband is still looking to see if I have started blubbing yet.
“Do you think it is a problem that I am older than the other mummies?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you are going to die before them.” Nothing I could say to that other than wishing an early death on the other mummies which wouldn’t really be fair. My eyes started to well up. Daddy spotted it and did nothing to help. However, David leapt in with the tear stopping:
“I’ve got loads of years left though.” And carried on nonchalantly with his beans on toast.
As a geriatric mummy, it has always been my worry that we would leave him too soon but time definitely seems to be going faster than I expected.
I have read articles about the reasons behind why we feel time going faster as we get older e.g. Why Time Goes By Faster As We Age | Psychology Today and this article Why Time Flies Faster With Age (and How to Slow It Down) (webmd.com) includes suggestions on how to slow time down again that I intend to try and follow:
- Take time to reflect on joyful experiences
- Listen to what’s happening in your friend’s and family’s lives
- Focus on your breathing
And the best one of all:
- View the world the way a 4-year-old would.
Who’s with me, let’s experience the world around us, talk about it, ask questions and tell someone you love at the end of the day about the amazing things you have experienced.