This is the last week of classes and as always, it comes too fast, and moves too slow. “Time is a funny thing,” to quote the character, “Hap,” from Steven Spielberg’s movie, Always.
During the last week of classes, there seems never to be enough time for students and professors alike. Students must finish term papers, projects, and presentations. Professors are just as busy finishing up the grading on all those term papers, projects, and presentations.
What follows next are the grade calculations and the posting of grades by the teachers. While the profs are busy with their grading, the students find themselves busy with other important things to finish. There is packing and planning, summer jobs to secure, internships to start, and maybe a day at the beach. Or perhaps two.
The strange thing about time during this period is the distortion. During the period in which many truly need more time—to finish papers and projects and study for tests, time flies by. It is the same for the days at the beach.
But if all you have to do is wait for the final minutes of the last day of class, time seems to stand still. Especially in those last 20 minutes before the start of a pickup game of softball.
Another method of slowing down time is by waiting the last few minutes before leaving to go swimming. For whatever reason, the very few minutes before being able to dive into any body of water takes a very long time for anyone aged 12 or less.
When you are 12, time is not really so important. When you’re 12, time is abundant. What you do not finish today, you can finish tomorrow. And of course, you have a lot of tomorrows.
You will continue to have many tomorrows for a very long time. You must multiply 12 by four or five times, before you realize that maybe, just maybe, there are fewer tomorrows than you realize. This brings up the trick of time again; the closer you come to the end, the shorter the days become.
Really, it makes no sense. When you are young, your days are long and seemingly last forever. When you become older, you are suddenly aware there is not enough time. The trick to time is learning how to organize your time and fit everything into your allotted time.
The school year is almost over now, and now there will be more time to finish everything in need of completing.
Actually, not really. There is never enough time to finish everything.
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© 2011 J. Clark
Ain’t it the truth? I do homeschool on Wednesdays with my two youngest grand kids, 11 and 14. We are all looking forward to wrapping up the term and moving on to a fun summer. I don’t envy your workload, one day a week is a challenge for me.