Time

For the last 19 years I have been part of an annual summer ritual with my wife and her friend from Boston in which we travel for a week vacation in Maine. Over the years we have had people come and go from our lives, but the one thing that has remained is the bond of friendship we have with each other. It has really struck me this year because I have become more aware of the passing of time, and the effect time is having on me. I don’t seem to climb on and off the rocks as swiftly as I have in the years gone by. As I look at our friend’s children and how they have grown, I can see the accumulation of years in myself. The kids are adults now, and are beginning to start their own families. They even have their own lives, and careers. They are independent now. Seems strange to me somehow. Like time is passing me by. And yet, somehow, I am still here watching the tide come and go. I will savor this moment. I hope I will be here another year, and my wife and friends will be there to see it with me.

— Stephen M. Taylor, MD