This could totally be a quote from some sappy movie or a self-help book maybe, I’m not sure. But I went to a funeral a few months ago and saw a lot of family I’d distanced myself from over the years. Not because of something crazy that happened, or a political disagreement or anything like that; I’ve just never been much for sticking around family just because they’re your family.

But anyway, I had an uncle giving me shit because I hadn’t came to see him or so much as gave him a phone call in years. But then another uncle came to the rescue and told him to stop being so hard on me. “Life goes five years at a time,” he said. “You go to work, come home and watch a little TV every night and next thing you know, five or ten years have gone by.”

I like that. I mean I hate that it goes by so fast, but I like his take on it. I feel time speeding up more every week. It’s terrifying.

I remember being in school and each quarter seemed like it took an eternity to get through. Each day seemed like an entire week. Now I commute an hour to work every morning, work a 10-hour shift and then drive an hour back home every night. That gives me about three hours of free time every night before I have to go to bed and do it all over again.

Next month’s schedule comes out the third week of every month and before I know it, I’m done with that one and the next one’s coming out. I’m only in my 30’s but I think I’m beginning to understand the mid-life crisis. Life is short.