Stretch of Time

The past few days, I experienced how slow and at the same time how fast time runs.


Well, did you read it right? Time runs slow but it runs fast at the same time?


Yeah, that's what I wrote. 


Okay. How can that be possible? Two opposing descriptions of the same thing.


All right, let me try to explain the best way I could without losing you nor myself ("-).



My brother visited us last week together with his wife, daughter and pet dog. They drove around 800 miles to attend my youngest daughter's First Communion (well, the dog stayed in our house).


Eight hundred miles is a long drive just to attend a 1-hour ceremony. So, they stayed for 6 days. Needless to say, we had so much fun. Most of our time together was spent in our house, talking, laughing, reminiscing, eating and playing. Ben Franklin's quote about fish and visitors really doesn't apply in this case. Not at all!


My daughters really wanted to have a dog but we think we are not yet ready to have one due to various reasons. And having my brother's pet dog in our house for a few days really gave them a taste of how it feels to have one, even only for a short period of time. They walked the dog, fed it, played with it and yes, picked up the you know what.


Even my wife & I carried out and enjoyed what my kids did with the dog. Maybe not the picking up part so much (lol).


They (brother and family) visited my sis-in-law's cousin for a day and when they got back, they brought 3 live lobsters and 2 pre-cooked crabs. We had a seafood party the following day.


When it was time for them to leave, it was a mixture of sadness and excitement. It is sad to be away from them but with all the fun we had, you can't help but look forward and be excited about the next time they'll visit us or we'll visit them.


So, where's the time factor there?


Well, time flies when you are having fun. We all know that. And the opposite is also true. When you are doing something you don't really like or bores you to death, it feels like minutes are hours. And you can hear every second ticking away. And worse, it seems that the ticking comes from a clock with an almost dead battery.


But I also realized that you can make time slow down even during an enjoyable moment. Prolonging the moment so you can savor it more. Stretching it further so you can get more out of it.


Scheduling and planning your activities normally work. By doing so, you can be more productive and your day seems longer since you tend to accomplish more.


But that's not what I am talking about. In fact, there was little planning that happened during my brother's visit. Aside from my daughter's First Communion, a visit to my sister-in-law's cousin and to watch a concert that got canceled, nothing was really planned.


When you are in an enjoyable moment, instead of being totally engulfed by the happiness and excitement that moment brings, look at the details that make it all up.


When we were eating the luscious lobsters for lunch, I wasn't just munching away while conversing. I was noticing the dining room. How the sunlight comes through the glass door and windows illuminating the area. How the table was set up. How we are all seated. How the food was prepared. How each one enjoys the food and the company. Those little details that contribute to that happy moment.


When you are focused on one thing and so overwhelmed by it, sometimes you are just a mere spectator watching series of events unfolding before your eyes. And that's when things happen real fast.


When you break from that engulfment and decide to be an active contributor, that's when you start smelling the roses and feeling the air. You tend to stretch the moment a little bit more. Spicing it up with more flavors. And through this, you tend to remember it better and longer. Thereby prolonging it even more in your mind.


It even applies to raising our children. Remember how they were so cute, fragile and very cuddly not too long ago? And when you actively involve yourself more with your kids' life, in almost every aspect, you will know them more, have a more lasting memories of them and they of you. And you know that the time you spent with them are time well spent. Not as a mere spectator but as a loving, caring and concerned parent.


Is time getting ahead of you?


"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of." -- Benjamin Franklin


Have a blissful day!