“The older I get,
the better I was.” 
Van Dyke Parks

There is a well-known and often-used phrase which crossed my mind yesterday afternoon. Time flies when you’re having fun. I didn’t put these words in quotes, because I was unable to find a reliable source to identify the author of those exact words. What I did find, however, took me back to my three years of Latin classes at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco.

“Tempus fugit” is a phrase found in a poem by the Roman poet Virgil. The phrase translates to “time flies.” In that context, it refers to the passage of time and how our lives seem to pass by so quickly. This got me to thinking,… and that can often be a dangerous thing!

Time is a strange phenomenon. There were times in my life when the minutes seemed to drag on forever. (Did I mention that I took three years of Latin in high school?) There were other times when hours, days, weeks, and even months just seemed to fly by. In my teaching career, I remember writing “September” on a handout for my students, knowing full well that before I knew it, I’d be writing “May.” That’s just how it was. 

Family therapist Clayton Barbeau once pointed out that five minutes with your hand on a hot stove would seem like a long time, whereas five minutes with your girlfriend would pass much too quickly. Time is relative in that way.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate the words of Australian filmmaker James Wan who said, “It’s pretty scary to know how quickly time flies.” He’s right. 

How could I be a grandparent already? How could I already be in my 70s? How could Kathy and I possibly be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary next month? How is it possible that I am older than the pope? In some ways, these things are simply beyond comprehension. I don’t feel old, so where did the time go?

I guess it goes back to the “having fun” thing. I have been blessed with an enjoyable and fulfilling life. I didn’t just survive my teen years, I relished them. My college years were better than I could possibly have asked for. The years of single young adulthood provided even more incredible life experiences. Raising three sons was a challenging, yet amazing experience, and I enjoyed my teaching career, including many of the unexpected travel opportunities it provided. And in my retirement, I have fulfilled a lifetime dream of writing and publishing a book — six of them! Yes, it’s been fun, and yes, the time has passed at an alarming pace.

Fortunately, one gift with which I’ve been blessed since my early years is an eidetic memory. I have often been able to recall people and experiences from the past with vivid detail. This enables me to revisit (in my mind) places I’ve been, events I’ve experienced, and people I’ve encountered along my life journey. While my memory is not perfect, what a gift it is for me to vividly recall events from fifty or more years ago. This happens on a fairly regular basis.

There is one thing about my memory, however, which amuses me. It is precisely what Van Dyke Parks observed in the quote at the top of this blog post: “The older I get, the better I was.”

Is this a bad thing??? 

So what’s the take-away from all this? Perhaps the words of Canadian author A. J. Darkholme answer this question. He wrote, “The older you get, the faster time passes in your mind, so use your time according to what’s most important.” It’s never too late to live happily ever after.