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The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.


So yeah, it’s Theme Thursday again. What’s more, it’s kind of relevant to where my head has been as of late. I say kind of because it is one degree of separation removed from the today’s theme, but well within the spirit!

So tell me, dear reader, what is the first thing that comes to mind when I say “CLOCK”?

If you’re wired like me, you’ll be sagely scratching your chin, suppressing a tear and muttering to yourself “TIME”.

TIME.

There is rarely enough of it.

I took the above photo the Wednesday before last. I was sitting in the front passenger side of the car, on the Gordon’s Hill Road/East Derwent Highway intersection.

The connection that this photo engenders to me with the concept of time is somewhat ambiguous. When I look at this sky, awash as it is with colour as day bleeds into night prompts a very specific memory, albeit of a sky in a different place and separate context.

I have an incredibly vivid recollection of swimming in the ocean under a similar sky. Of course, that sky was a little more orange, a little pinker, it was summer, and it was up in the North West of Tasmania, not the South East.

The memory itself is vivid, albeit nothing particularly out of the ordinary – swimming during an electrical storm, the sound of thunder rolling when you stick your head under the water, that kind of thing – the thing is though, as I’m thinking this, it seems like yesterday.

But it wasn’t yesterday.

So in my head, I’m like “three years...?”

No.

FIFTEEN YEARS.

Fifteen years and it seems like yesterday.

Ezra will have his first birthday next month. It seems like last week!

Henry is two and a half.

I’ve been together with Jen for EIGHT years.

I’ve live in Hobart for THIRTEEN YEARS.

It’s a blink of an eye.

On this spectrum, at this rate, I’ll be dead NEXT WEEK.

Not next week in a linear, temporal sense, but next week in a sense of how time appears to me. How time come and how time goes.

I’m scared.

I want to cry.

Comments

Brian Miller said…
lol. having kids only speeds it up man. before you know it they are walking, talking, crawling, walking, going to school...i look back and wonder. happy tt!
Kris McCracken said…
Brian, it is a cruel, horrible truth!
yamini said…
Ohh dnt cry Kris!!! It isn't all that bad.
It can be overwhelming sometimes but the glass will always remain half full.
So, enjoy it with Jen, Henry and Ezra!!
Ronda Laveen said…
I'm not sure who came up with linear time, but I'm not a fan. I'd rather fall into that timeless category. I keep trying to manifest that I have time to do everything I need to do. I'll keep you posted.
tony said…
The Expression 'Making Time' Is an interesting One....How Do We "Make" Time? Well...It sounds like you have made Plenty! Be PROUD Of Your Creation!!!!
Hallam said…
yeah, you're screwed dude!
The Silver Fox said…
I have that disconcerting feeling a lot, and it only gets worse as you get older. "Wow, I haven't seen him for ten or twelve years, not since 1985 or so... Hey, wait! That was 24 years ago!"
Tess Kincaid said…
It is scary! And why is it speeding up?
Power-full...oh I wanna go think and remember (or forget?) now...

great post :)
xoxo
Sue said…
The colours of the sky takes my breath away! It is beautiful.
Having just returned from farewelling one of my favourite people in this world off into the great unknown...the span of time we all have seems entirely insufficient to me at this juncture. A blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things!
Kat Mortensen said…
I know. It just seems like Thursday (or Saturday) keeps popping up every other day now.

Kat
Babzy.B said…
fabulous sky, the photographer always wants to hang on time !
Wings1295 said…
It has been amazing to me how much faster time goes as we age. It is like going uphill as a kid, slow and steady. And then once we reach a certain age, it is all down hill, faster and faster! And kids grow like weeds on the way down!
Baino said…
Aww don't cry, we're all in the same leaky boat!
Betsy Brock said…
Time does go by faster the older we get...I will agree with that! It's not fair!
Candie said…
Great sky!And yes about the sentence!
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, I pretty rubbish at crying.
Kris McCracken said…
Ronda, some sick, perverted bastard!
Kris McCracken said…
Tony, I wish I could freeze time and just enjoy the peace and quiet.
Kris McCracken said…
The Silver Fox, it is happening all the more to me.
Kris McCracken said…
Willow, I blame the pig flu.
Kris McCracken said…
Marianna, Kundera is good on forgetting and remembering.
Kris McCracken said…
Sue, keep your eyes closed!
Kris McCracken said…
Poetikat, it is a cruel truth.
Kris McCracken said…
Babzy, too right!
Kris McCracken said…
Wings, it is most defiantly speeding up. Global warming?
Kris McCracken said…
Baino, that doesn’t help! I wanna be special!!! ;)
Kris McCracken said…
Betsy, maybe we should strike?
Tara said…
oh, I know the feeling. My first born is 21 - how close to the grave do you think I feel I am? Just one more step and I'm falling into it!

Man, this photo just strikes me dumb. Spectacular! I must go back and look at it again - and again.
Kris McCracken said…
Tara, 21 is still a baby!

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