Dancing through the Woods

I can remember a time when it seemed that time stretched out, when the months seemed like they would never end. I can remember thinking that school would never let out, and summer felt like it lasted. Now as the years pile upon themselves, it seems like time rushes by. Sometimes it seems like the sand in the hour glass has somehow found a way to move faster than the speed of light.

It seems like only yesterday that I started on this journey. I wonder how I got to this place. So far from where I thought I was headed, yet in many ways so comfortable with where I have ended up. It seems as if I blinked somewhere along the way. And now, here I am. Life is indeed short. I wonder how it is that we often just don't see how short it is.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of wandering a bit through the past that slipped so quickly by. Amazing to meet so many people that I have connected to over this quick run through time. Even more amazing to find out how connected we have remained. All these little threads that weave through and tie us to who we are through the people we have known. To have the opportunity to see ourselves through the mirror of the past. That is truly a worthy gift. To find out that perhaps what we remember is not what others do. A sort of check and balance. And in a very important way, an opening to the future.

This reconnection, may in fact be an opportunity to see current and future connections with greater clarity. Perhaps even to grasp that feeling that time is not so fleeting after all. Maybe what made those long magical summers was not an absence of cognitive connection but in actuality a true awareness to the bounty laid before us. In that innocence perhaps it was possible to just believe in the moment and truly savor it.

As we grow, I think we lose some of this inherent skill. We lose our ability to lose ourselves to the rhythm of the day, the friendships, and the flow of life. We get caught up in the must do lists, our daily tasks and the forward thrust of whereever it is we think we have to go. And somehow in this new focus time collapses. There is not enough time to enjoy the singular moment when focused on what comes next.

So when our past reaches out to remind us of those slow moving days, it is not just a glimpse of what so many refer to as the "glory days". It is a reminder of our ability to live in the moment now. To have that sense of timelessness in our lives today. To revel in our ability to connect in all aspects of our lives throughout our lives. I recall a line from an old Carly Simon song - not sure I have it right:

I remember a time dancing through the woods
Sun against our skin instead of clothes
When we'd get hungry we would eat
When we'd get glad we'd dance
And whenever we'd get drowzy we would doze

You can see where she is headed - living life to live it now. Not to live it tomorrow. Why should this be so hard to do?

All I can think of is that we are blessed to be here. To have these chances to dance through the woods. To be with people who can make us laugh, cry or even get our ire up. Live is indeed for living. Why wait til tomorrow?