"Do you remember when...?"

"Time is an illusion:  lunchtime doubly so."    Douglas Adams

Twenty-two years ago today, I was a nervous bride-in-waiting; the cream silk gown, made by my mother, was hanging in state and the intricate lace veil was awaiting its debut.  Finishing touches were being added to the cake - we would have to wait until morning to gather the fresh ivy leaves to decorate the base - and friends and family had started to arrive from various far-flung corners of the British Isles.

It's funny how many events in our lives can stay crystal-clear in our minds; we can put ourselves right back there, whenever we want to, and really feel, see and hear exactly what was going on at that time; reliving the event in our imagination with such incredible clarity, regardless of how many intervening years have elapsed. 

Sometimes it's not the most important things that we remember; a random and seemingly unimportant event can remain very clear in our minds, for no apparent reason - I have a remarkably clear memory of visiting "Strawberry Farm" - a farm shop near our home - when I must have been about two years old; how high up the wooden crates of vegetables seemed to me, the smell of the dark shed and the silky feel of broad bean pods when I reached up to touch.

Sometimes time seems to pass so slowly - do you remember how long the summer holidays lasted when we were little?  They seemed to stretch out in front of us forever - six or seven weeks was an eternity of joyful freedom! - but as we grow older, so time seems to speed up.  It seems no time at all since we were slipping and sliding outside on the snow and ice that gripped our lane for so many weeks last winter!

I heard an elegant theory about why this is so - when we are, say, five, a month is quite a big proportion of those five years; when we are forty-five, that proportion grows less significant.  Time, then, appears to speed up relative to our age.

We all create our own realities, though, so if time is relative then we can all be in control of how fast it appears to pass for us.  If we spend our time focusing on the past or the future, is it any wonder that the present passes us by? 

If you want to be able to recall precious memories in the future, remember that you have to be in the moment now in order to create them.  I  have a very clear memory of my lovely older sister telling me exactly that, on the morning of Saturday 5 August 1989.  Thanks for that, Cait - I am forever grateful!