When Did That Happen? (Time slips away)

If you are like me you tend to relate an event to a particular era in your life. I may say something happened during high school or when I was in college. There is the time before I got married and after, before kids or after, during one job or another. It seems my life is placed in many different categories. This is most true in my life with music. A song reminds me of a certain time or event. Eighties music evokes some great memories, as well as a few not so great ones. I think, "Was this song out when I was in high school or college?" Television shows are the same.

I like the radio stations that have the year a song was released. Of course, usually I say, "That song can't be THAT old!!" The problem is I don't think I'm that old. To me the 80's were just a few years ago. There is no way I have been out of high school that many years! It seems time has a way of slipping by us when we are busy living life. The song "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney is so true. You turn around and years have passed.

Every year on the anniversary of our first date or our wedding, I would tell Maddy that it didn't seem like we had been together that long, but on the other hand it seemed like we had always been together. Of course, he would make some comment about how it felt like FOREVER! I knew he was only joking as usual. It was always amazing to me how 15, 20, or 25 years had passed, but it only felt like a few.

This past week marked 8 months since Maddy's accident, or 35 weeks as I count it. When I say it out loud it seems like quite a long time in my head, but in my heart it hasn't been that long. I have to remind myself of all the events that have happened since then. We've all had our first birthday without him. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. We had no fall or spring break camping. I find myself now trying to remember if a song or TV show came out before or after the accident. Did Maddy ever hear that song? Was this show one that he watched? This is now the new standard by which I measure time. I find myself categorizing an event by whether it occurred before or after the accident. I don't even consider what month it happened, just which side of the timeline it belongs.

No matter how much time has passed, I know that I must keep looking forward while cherishing the past. I need to fix my eyes on Jesus and trust in His timing and divine wisdom. My hope is that through my journey I may be able to help someone else whose life takes a detour down this road I'm traveling.