Thirty two Heart Beats

(A contemplation on my 32nd Bday)

When you look at each day separately,
Each day is not that much different from the day before.
When you look at each week separately,
They are just a string of seven days sewn together side by side.

A month is just made of four weeks or a bit more, but not much more.
And most of the time, last month feels just like the month before it.
And let me tell you about a year!
Each year has the habit of moving at record speed.

So one day, one ordinary day, a day that was not much different from the day before it,
I found myself being thirty two.
And I wonder where all those years had gone.

Of course I have lived each and every single day.
Of course I have lived each and every single week.. and month… and year.
And yet, thirty two years sound like a long time but feel like thirty two heart beats.

How I wish I remember where I was at every heart beat.
How I hope I have treasured each and every heart beat.
For if we don’t live that way,
We can’t really say that we have lived at all.

15 March 2006