Sam Benda

Shades of Salmon.

Time is a funny thing.

I would be willing to bet many people’s conversations, thoughts, and journal entries somehow have to do with time. With remember whens and reflections. Its how we relate to each other, through the time that has passed while we have all been on Earth together. Yet, as much as it goes through our minds, we still haven’t quite figured out how it works, or how to make the most of it, or how to slow it down.

It’s a double standard. Time can heal,and time can hurt. Time can drag on for days within hours and it can move faster than you can blink. Time changes people, places, and relationships. Time can seem so clear at one point and feel like a scene from Willy Wonka the next.

So after countless yearbooks and letters and advice of “living it up” and “enjoying every moment”, have we truly discovered how to? How to make each second count? Every day, ever hour is different, a different instant in time. So what if we don’t want a certain day or hour to count because it’s too boring or painful?
The hard part is that at the end of the year everything is thrown in together forming another piece of the puzzle that is your life, with the good, the ugly, and the mediocre. No do-overs, no exchanges, and no returns.

Its not about trying to control time, or setting dates for yourself.
That you would have this job by then, or that you should be over this by now, or that its been 4 years why do you still feel the way you do. It’s about realizing that even though time is continuous for the world, we all have our own pace. Its about being honest with yourself and doing your best to get your personal timeline in sync with the beating in your chest.

Don’t be afraid to take time, out of time, to think and work through things, the world will still be there when you get back. And you won’t be stuck behind, because life is all about motion. It’s about each of us living differently at the same moment but being fearless about moving at different speeds.

Lose track of time and learn to love where you are right now.

thunder.

When do we truly “get over” something?

When do we reach the point where that situation has no more emotion tied to it and no longer binds us down with chains?

Or - for that matter do we EVER truly move on from that instance? Are we ever able to reach a point where we can breathe deeply on the subject and keep walking without a second thought?

In all honesty, no. I think we are never able to completely separate ourselves from a past experience without a scratch. And i think its a good thing. Each scar has a story, a message to tell to all others with scars of their own.

When the thunder rolls in and we are reminded of the ripping of flesh, the beginning of a scar, the wound seems to re-open ever so slightly even if it has been shut for years. The pain is both physical and mental all over again. We get angry, upset, we cry, our hearts ache with desperation to sew up the scar for good and never see it return.

We have all been bruised, but bruises fade. Scars are a reminder that we have been altered, changed for good in some way. In a way that has made us stronger, wiser, and allowed us to discover so much more about the complexity of our individuality.

Scars are permanent, but our pain is not. Pain is temporary and will fade to nothing, if we don’t allow it to come back