Letters to Myself

The Size of a Lifetime

THE SIZE OF A LIFETIME

When we become conscious for the first time ever we are allotted a window that is only as
long and as wide as the length and breadth of our lives. Through this window we are only
able to view that part of life within its frame; we cannot see what came before and we will
never see what comes after.

What came before us lays the foundation upon which we place our lives, and how we change it
during our lifetime may make a difference to those who come behind and it may not matter at
all. The point is, life may as well have started only the moment we were born, and end the
moment we die, for it’s only that window we have for the duration of our personal lifetime
that we are able to work with.

All these windows to so many lives opening and closing like the eyes of an age-old dinosaur:
People coming, eyes wide, seeing through intangible glass for the first time, now just a
babe, ever-aging second by second. People going, eyes shut forever, window busted, some
old, some new, some anywhere in between, never able to age again.

I’ve been looking through my own personal window now for nearly 55 years. I’ve seen many
mornings, mountains, lakes, and seas, so many evening, Januarys, shady trees, and running
springs. I’ve watched at least ten US presidents come to office, age, and fade away. Their
windows, like all the other windows that belong to those around me, overlap my own, yet
their view is far different from mine.

Getting nearer the end of the transom via age alone I keep my eyes wide open. I can’t
afford to miss a thing. Soon it will be over. Once shut, the window is closed forever.