Time and Perspective

I looked at the calendar today and it startled me.  3/13/2013.  I graduated High School in 1992.  I remember thinking, at the time, “The year 2000 is soooo far away!”  And, at the time, it was.  But today I look at the year 2000 and think, “wow - that was so long ago.”

Here’s a random thought...In this wave of time we ride, isn’t it weird that in the present day we think fashion is so modern?  We never think that the past will look silly while we’re living in the present.  In the early 90’s, we all had mullets.  bahaha.  We didn’t call them mullets at the time, it’s just how we cut our hair.  It was normal - even cool.  Now it’s seriously funny.  I look at the musicians of that time - Poison, Motley Crew, Guns and Roses - and have to laugh.  Their hair!  And they were soooooo cool back then.  Wow.  

It’s strange to me that the year 2000 is already getting to be old.  2000 still seems “modern” to me.  But it’s not.  It’s over a decade old - it’s hard to believe.  I work with high school students and when I asked them recently where they were during the 9/11 tragedy, I got answers like, “I was at day care.”  Most weren’t even at school yet.  Crazy.

I spent the last day of 1999 with a group of friends up in Tahoe.  We celebrated the new millennia like everyone else - staying up really late and drinking Champagne.  We set our alarms super early the next morning to go watch the sun rise on this new century.  It is hell waking up at the butt crack of dawn after a late night - but we managed.  We got in Gregg’s suburban and drove to this strange rock formation in between Tahoe City and Tahoma.  We made our climb, trying to make it to the top of this unusual rock spire before the sun peaked over the mountains.  Our ears were cold, hands were frozen, and our breath was visible as we made our way up.

We got to the flat top of granite and beheld the beauty of the lake.  Snow capped mountains.  Stars still visible in the sky.  Tahoe Blue.  The light of the sun was growing brighter as the minutes passed.  

I remember having a hopeful feeling that morning.  I also remember feeling like there was no place I’d rather be than in that moment with my friends.  It was one of those few moments where I wasn’t looking towards the future or thinking about the past.  I was living in the moment - and that moment held hope.

A golden ray of sunlight peaked over one of the summits on the other side of the lake.    The stars disappeared into a blue canvas of sky as the biting cold felt the kiss of this new century’s sunlight.  Before long, the entire sun lit up the sky. It was a good day.  It was a very good day.

Hope remains, if we let it.  We tend to trade it in for worry or stress.  Or habits and the humdrum of life.  We forget to live in the many moments given to us throughout our day.

But hope remains, even when we can't always see it.

Jer