Wisdom from the Trenches

Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

I have told people for years that I think life is like a bullet train. Inside the train, life moves at an average pace. Everyday things happen in a frustratingly monotonous fashion. Life trudges on at a virtually imperceptible rate in the comfort of your immediate surroundings while outside the bullet train, life whips by in a frenzy! If you happen to look up during your ride, you will catch a glimpse of an incredible fleeting moment before it is gone forever, leaving you with only a snapshot memory in your mind. And you realize by looking outside yourself, at the larger picture, that you are speeding along in life much faster than it appears when you only look at what is directly in front of you. Blink, and you’ll miss the sights along the way.

The maddening part about life is that it usually takes so long for most of us to realize that time is moving much faster than we originally thought. Somehow, our eyes are opened to our reality and we begin to cherish each fleeting moment outside of us along with each painstakingly slow daily ritual in our journey. Somewhere along the way, we learn to live – with our eyes wide open.

On Wednesday last week, my youngest finished middle school and officially became a high school student. On Thursday last week, my middle child graduated high school and will begin attending college in the Fall. On Friday last week, I waved goodbye to my oldest as he boarded a plane to attend a study abroad program this summer. I remember days when they were little that I thought would never end. Grueling, exhausting, agonizingly long days at the time. But that seems like only yesterday and here we are – at their departing stations. In a way, they are changing bullet trains and headed out on bold adventures of their very own. As we all pull away from each other and they fade from my sight, I am reminded how quickly life moves outside of my immediate vicinity. Good times come and go. Memories are made and fade in a flash. Blink, and I could miss it. I really must remember to stop and look around once in awhile.