I don’t know if this is a “I’m getting older” thing, but I just keep thinking how bizarre time is. It can simultaneously feel so slow and yet, soooooo fast.
Today is Ethan’s last day of school, technically, because he is missing school tomorrow (AGAIN) for Conference tennis and then next week is finals (so he just has to go for his exams sprinkled throughout the week and that’s it).
And poof, just like that, he is officially HALF done with high school. Halfway!! Only 2 years left, to potentially ever live in my house full time again?!!!
WHAT?! I swear, he just started. Like, I clearly remember sitting there approximately 5 minutes ago in the gym, at the “new family welcome night” in mid-August 2023, as he was about to start freshman year. I mean it! The memories are vivid, I know what I was wearing and who we sat by and what we talked about and all of it. It literally feels like it was super recent, not close to 2 years ago now!
I also feel like in the fall, each school year seems “so long”, but then it hits the holiday season (which seems to start ramping up in like, October) and then that becomes a blur… then there’s a little lull maybe in the winter but then soon enough it’s spring break and after spring break, the year is basically over.
Maybe part of it is that Ethan’s schedule doesn’t line up with our “traditional” school schedule around here (and what I personally experienced my whole life: early September to ~2nd week of June school year). Instead, he starts in mid- August and ends in mid- May.
I also keep thinking about the fact that at the end of the month, it will have been an entire YEAR since we went to Hawaii. We left on May 31 last year. I FEEL LIKE WE JUST GOT BACK. I know this isn’t true, but it also does not feel like an entire year has passed!!
I don’t know. It’s just a very odd phenomenon. I try to be present, I “record the memories” (i.e. I try and process thing), I try to not take time for granted….and honestly, some days/ week seem a bit long, in the moment… but overall it just feels like it’s going so fast. Am I doing something wrong??? Is it the technology these days making it all a blur? Too much time looking at my phone and it’s secretly making each minute 10% shorter or something? Has my life become too routine and it’s all just running together? Is it my job? Distraction? What is happening?!??! 😫
Here’s Ethan after his tennis match this week… also winding down now his sophomore season, and only 2 seasons left in his high school career!
I don’t know the answer. I love the new phases and stages and I’m not saying, “I wish the boys were still little”, either. Every new era is great in its own way, and I am excited to experience them all along the way.
I am just alarmed at how fast the train seems to be going, that’s all.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for my wireless mouse I’m using while writing this post!
GRATEFUL KAE 
Kae, I have the exact same thing. We still have another week to go before exams, but then my daughter is halfway through high school, WHAT. And I know exactly what you mean- the first semester seems long, then the third quarter somehow is a blur, and fourth quarter- forget it. It’s over in the blink of an eye. Yes- time is weird. I am wondering if this earlier schedule has something to do with it? We also start mid August and end by the end of May. Maybe there’s a part of me that thinks it’s early because I also grew up with the traditional schedule of beginning school after Labor Day. So it DOES seem early to end school now? I don’t know. Maybe we’re just getting old (or, at least I am!) ; )
LikeLike
I don’t have kids but feel the same way, time just goes by so fast. I think it’s just a part of aging to be honest. I’m mid 40s and have felt this way for awhile now. You blink and another year goes by. I feel like it also goes hand in hand with not feeling my age, how am I mid 40s? I was just mid 20s. Time marches on, that’s for sure.
LikeLike
If you don’t know the answer as to how your perception of how short the years are as well as how long the individual days are come to be, Kae, then I don’t know the answer either. But I do think it makes sense that you – or I – get alarmed at how we actually make use of our times.
LikeLike
I’ve heard it described that as you get older, each year is a smaller % of your life, thus feels faster so I wonder if that is the case. Like 1 year for a 40 yo = 2.5% of life versus when you are 10 yo, 1 year = 10% of your life. I also think kids make time passing so much more obvious, their growth, progression in school, etc. vs. I don’t feel that different from five years ago but looking at my kids, I can see that time really has passed. I will say I think you do a great job making the most of life, appreciating the big things and the little routine days as well.
LikeLike
This! Here’s a fun link on 2 reasons why time seems to speed up as we age. This theory (“log time”) is one of them.
http://drdavidhamilton.com/why-time-speeds-up-as-you-age/
and another one:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-of-the-darkness/202409/why-does-time-seem-to-speed-up-as-we-get-older
LikeLike
My kids are younger than yours but I can SO relate. I feel like time is zooming so much faster than before. Like you, I don’t necessarily miss the little years (they seemed so long at the time), but now I do have some big feelings about how quickly they are growing and becoming more independent. That seems to happen overnight.
You and I were both quite young when we had our kids (compared to the new normal) and I think that might impact things, too? Like I feel like I’m doing “sans little kids adulthood” almost for the first time? They say your adult brain isn’t fully formed until 25 and I already had a toddler by that point!
Belle starts high school in the fall and in a little over a month she and Indy will NEVER been in the same school again. That feels wild. Also, the realization that if she leaves home right after high school like I did, we could have four years parenting one kiddo only (which also feels wild!)
It’s bittersweet, but I’m honestly also SO excited for the next stage and being more flexible and independent with travel, especially in a (hopefully early) retirement.
LikeLike
Not gonna lie, I feel this feeling of time zooming past too, but I have only felt that way once my kids were a bit older (11 and 12 currently). When they were babies/toddlers I did NOT feel time zooming by. I still think the first year with a baby were the slowest times of my whole life haha. I didn’t hate being the mom of a newborn or anything–there were a number of things I truly loved about the baby stage. But I think the day to day can feel so monotonous which really makes time crawl. Plus the sleep deprivation :).
LikeLike
I have not experienced this yet. I think it’s an older kid phenomenon. When people would say to Phil (for example) ‘I can’t believe Taco is 2’ he would say – ‘I have felt every day of the last 2 years’ or something like that. lol. He hates comments about how fast time goes, but especially about little kids. And when people tell me they can’t believe Paul is 7 for example, I sort of shrug my shoulders because he does seem 7 to me and it hasn’t felt like time has flown quite yet!
But I can see time speeding up when they are older. So many people comment about how much they miss the stage we are in and I imagine we will miss it, too. So I am trying to appreciate the stage I am in! And it has been more enjoyable than the baby/toddler stage. I feel like elementary is my favorite stage so far!!
LikeLike
I definitely feel this too, and I think for me it has a lot to do with kids ages. In fact, I know it does because I cannot believe my 6 year old is finishing year 1, I swear he was in nursery yesterday.
At the same time, I’m fairly sure I’ve had toddler twins (now 18 months) for about 100 years. I want them to be 5 and my son to stay 6. Maybe that’s the benefit of your closer age gaps…? But the fun times do seems to fly.
Also, I’m fairly sure you went to Hawaii only a few months ago as well.
LikeLike
Every new era is great in its own way, and I am excited to experience them all along the way. You summarized my feeling with this phrase. Time flies like sand and I can’t hold them no matter how much i want. I feels like we are in a canoe going through a river, sometimes goes fast, sometimes goes slow, but it’s not really under our control no matter how much we maneuver. It’s a bittersweet feeling.
LikeLike
Time is weird. Some days are long but then you look back and a month has gone by. I think part of it is getting older but it has happened on and off for years!
i am also grateful for my mouse, so much so that I have it with me on my travels. I much prefer using my laptop over my phone and my mouse over my touchpad!
LikeLike