The illusion of timelessnes
I'm packing up my desk in the office.
No, I'm not leaving the company. Neither are they kicking me out - although that would have some plus points, and some minuses too. We're just doing the obligatory once every two year office move in order to help Collin and his movers make some money - but that's another story altogether and besides, it helps Collin to stay afloat in this recession.
So I'm taking down the pictures hanging on the wall, soft wall to be precise, and I come across this picture of Nigel and Shannon taken in March 2006 (see above) on a KL holiday when she was just 14 months old - 2 months younger than Amber now. Funny how we have to strain our memory to look back on what a child had accomplished when she was the age of the new baby - and it's just 3 years ago, sometimes less. Shannon is such a sweetheart in the photo, just like Amber now. How I want to reach into the picture and hug this little girl, standing with such cute grace and looking at the camera while Nigel put his arm around her trying to strangle her in a brotherly way. She's a whole head shorter than Nigel, which is not the case anymore - but she is a head taller than Amber now and the roles have been passed down if we take another similar picture today. 3 little angels, chasing each other up the growing ladder, getting bigger each day, each month.
The funny thing is our children seem to age too fast. Just pick any picture and you'll immediately think "wow, I remember when she was that small" and you lower the photograph and look at the little human in person and wonder how come you never noticed the intermediate growth. But we, adults, parents, seem to have time standing still. These little ones mature so quickly and shoot up in height, but we haven't moved much - never changing in a way. Is that true? Since that picture was taken in KL 3 years ago, I don't feel one day older - but she's almost become an adult, or at least a full grown child!
I think we're timeless. Our children make us so. Too many Benjamin Button stories.
No, I'm not leaving the company. Neither are they kicking me out - although that would have some plus points, and some minuses too. We're just doing the obligatory once every two year office move in order to help Collin and his movers make some money - but that's another story altogether and besides, it helps Collin to stay afloat in this recession.
So I'm taking down the pictures hanging on the wall, soft wall to be precise, and I come across this picture of Nigel and Shannon taken in March 2006 (see above) on a KL holiday when she was just 14 months old - 2 months younger than Amber now. Funny how we have to strain our memory to look back on what a child had accomplished when she was the age of the new baby - and it's just 3 years ago, sometimes less. Shannon is such a sweetheart in the photo, just like Amber now. How I want to reach into the picture and hug this little girl, standing with such cute grace and looking at the camera while Nigel put his arm around her trying to strangle her in a brotherly way. She's a whole head shorter than Nigel, which is not the case anymore - but she is a head taller than Amber now and the roles have been passed down if we take another similar picture today. 3 little angels, chasing each other up the growing ladder, getting bigger each day, each month.
The funny thing is our children seem to age too fast. Just pick any picture and you'll immediately think "wow, I remember when she was that small" and you lower the photograph and look at the little human in person and wonder how come you never noticed the intermediate growth. But we, adults, parents, seem to have time standing still. These little ones mature so quickly and shoot up in height, but we haven't moved much - never changing in a way. Is that true? Since that picture was taken in KL 3 years ago, I don't feel one day older - but she's almost become an adult, or at least a full grown child!
I think we're timeless. Our children make us so. Too many Benjamin Button stories.