Passing of time...

I present to you a brief recap of life in the laundry pile. I have been pondering the passage of time. What does it look like? I mean really?

Some things are inevitable as time passes - other things I have to simply wonder about.

* Shaggy the shih-tzu is still limping around the house. He alternatingly limps and gnaws on his front feet. They don't know what's wrong with him. One vet wants to do surgery. Another wants to wait. We liked the over all attitude of the second vet, so we're waiting. It will be a year since we've adopted him this summer. The passing of time has been that he's loved by all the kids and tolerated by the Professor.

* The Professor is travelling A LOT. Today he's on a plane returning home from Alaska. The week before that he was elected (Army style) to go to Missouri. The week before that he was in South Dakota. The weekend before that he was taking a test in Chicago. He'll need a nap some time about June. He's had to watch his time pass via trips.

* Today was the funeral of my step-grandfather. I treasured him and his life. Even though I did not get to know him as well as my cousins did. I loved him most because he treasured my Nina. They were married in '97. In May. The Professor and I were Married in July of that same year. Mom had requested that we not have a double wedding.

* Knowing that this is her second husband to bury, my thoughts were constantly remembering My grandmother. She used to come to our house and I would play (pretty slowly) and she would sing. We would sing ballads from the 30's and 40's. It's a treasure I will always have. As my other cousins got older and had kids, her visits with us and our family were fewer and fewer. I know it's simply because they did more things that she could watch. So as time has passed, I have cherished that memory.

* While time passes, it's hard not to notice it's mark in life. Sometimes is just seems like we suddenly stop and noitice that a lot of time has passed by. Marked by Friendships - some growing stronger, others fading away. Knowing which ones to let go is the hard part of marking time.

* Time passes in families, too. When I was a kid, there was always the effort to hang out with cousins and family. We always had a family get together. Now. Now that we're older with families of our own - the relationships are not there. They have their families and those families hang out - as is only natural.

* Sometimes I feel like I pass all my time in the Laundry Pile and should reach out to those relationships that had once been there. Sometimes it's hard to think of how much time has passed while we've been here without getting a bit melancholy. How many things have I let go by because I've been so involved in things without looking up? It's not possible to go back in time.

It's only possible to mark it's passing.