It comes in little waves,
Lapping at the shore,
The first time they all started having sex,
The wedding invites, then the babies too,
The birthday parties celebrating 30, 40,
On and on it goes until
The posts all change to something dark,
The ‘she will be sorely missed’ appears
And people clothed in black.
It comes to all of us, eventually
But always faster than we thought.
I saw another Facebook post announcing that someone about my age died yesterday. I wasn’t close to her so it’s not that I’m feeling immense sadness, but the shock is still there.
We used to swim together when I was a teenager so we did spend hours in the pool every week, and everyone in the squad felt a little bit like family. And the fact that she was so young; it all combines to create a very sick feeling in my stomach.
It has also just made me think that life is rolling on so quickly and that is frightening to all humans. There was a time when everyone was excited about having sex for the first time, then there was a flurry of invites to weddings and baby showers. Now we are reaching our forties we are having lots of big birthday parties.
I’m scared that more and more people will start to disappear now. Noah is going through the teen years and has all that love and excitement to come. But hopefully I’ve still got a few more years left in the tank.
Much Love
Rachel xx
Margot Kinberg
I know just what you mean, Rachel! My husband and I went to the same uni (that’s where we met), and we get their alumni magazine. When we first got it, years ago, the people we knew were all in the ‘got married’ and/or ‘had a baby’ columns. Then it was the ‘career success’ column (you know, ‘X was promoted to….’ or ‘Y is now Chief Surgeon at…’). Now, I’m seeing names in the Obituary column. It does remind you of how fleeing life is…
patientandkindlove
It is so frightening. It makes me wish that time would just slow down. And having kids makes it even worse because they seem to grow too quickly…and if they are growing, I must be aging!
thebirdsiheard
I love how the poem shifts into paragraphs. Really cool writing
patientandkindlove
Thank you! x
saymber
Having people we know and have cared about our age pass away definitely reminds how brief life is. I’ve had a couple myself recently – big time mortality check! Enjoy your moments.
patientandkindlove
It is so scary when it starts to set in that we don’t last forever.
Greg Dennison
🙁