Time is a construct
Tracking equipment surrounds us. Our phones show the current time and day, our watches are worn to tell us the time at a glance, there are digital readouts in our vehicles and most businesses have a clock that is visible. If you work on a computer, you know that the current date and time is always watching you in the corner of your screen.
Time awareness
Being aware of what time it is starts early in life. We wake up in the morning and sleep at night when the sun disappears. This becomes part of the structure of our waking hours with naps, meals and play at regular intervals. Toys have clocks built into them; some for no possible reason. School starts at stated times, classes begin and end in semesters, kids yearn for the part of the day where recess uses up the fastest moving minutes and we note reminders on calendars. At the end of our days, suppertime gathers families together and baths have there own designations as important time markers. We end our day with bedtime. I know that one is important because the actual word “time” is a part of it.
Profound time
When something especially important happens in our lives, we mark that date. These dates become benchmarks in our life measurement – birthdays, engagements and weddings, anniversaries and special celebrations. Some dates become starting points and we mark time from that point. The newly joined life that exists after a marriage is special. When there is a death, that date begins a new calendar also.
Restart date
The date that starts a new chapter, a changed life due to death, often feels like a betrayal to thinking. It is not a denial of what came previously or anyone’s importance. This point gives significance to the living to help them know that it is time to move forward. Existence has changed and needs an appropriate restarting point. It functions as a kick-off spot. It often signals new possibilities and new thinking. Life can accommodate the change. Accepting this date into life can be troubling if the thought attached to it is not managed. The life that continues enables us to honor those who played any role in our past. That time was profound and the date is also.
If you made a list of profound dates in your life, what would they include? How does moving on in life after loss feel? Can the past be honored in the plans of the future?
