Taking stock of how time flies

I never really understood the expression "Time flies," but I'm getting a true sense of it lately.

My sons just turned seven this week. Only yesterday I was holding them in one hand. They were born seven weeks premature, as many twins are, and Aidan at a 4 pounds, 13 ounces had trouble keeping his body temperature up. They wanted to keep him in a warmer and Ashley was so upset that he couldn't stay in the room with us. Tristan was fine, but we thought it best to keep them together, since they had only known being together.

They both fit easily in the same incubator. Wrapped in blankets, wearing little hats. You'd certainly never know today that they were undersized. They're both over 4 feet 5 inches tall. Aidan weighs a little more than 90 pounds. We throw a baseball in the front yard every day and I can't believe how quickly time has passed since we had to keep him in a little heated bed to keep him warm.

April 1st holds special significance for my family. Ashley's brother, Kyle, and two of his friends were in a car wreck on that date nine years ago. They were killed coming around a dark curve on their way home. It's so sad. I wonder if this day will ever just be another day for Ashley and her Mom. I doubt that it will.

The mothers of the boys still get together every year to maintain the monument on the highway. Not simply a marker, there are three crosses on the side of the road bearing the names of Jeff, Kyle and Jason surrounded by flowers which come up every year to remind us of the life that each lost. On significant days such as birthdays, their friends still take balloons or write notes to them.

I didn't know Kyle that well, but in the years that we had the bar which we named Kyle's Tap Room, many of his friends came in and told me how much they missed him. I got to know Kyle through their stories. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about Kyle. Not once.

As for myself, I remember his laugh, most of all. Aidan, who looks like his uncle (A LOT) and carries the middle name Kyle, also laughs like him. I don't know if it's a comfort or disturbing to Ashley, but I think it's probably a nice reminder of her lost brother.

Another reminder of how time goes by is my fast-approaching 25 year high school reunion. I've never been to a reunion. I don't think we had a 5-year, I didn't know about the 10-year until it was too late, since I somehow was on the "lost" list and never received notification of it. I'm not sure if we even had a 15-year, or a 20-year, but we probably did, and honestly, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.

But a funny thing has happened between 2005 and 2010. It's called Facebook. Maybe you've heard of it.

It's made me start caring about the people I lost track of when we left South High. Once again, I know a little bit about the daily lives of the people I went to school with, whether it's the small dramas or common successes that make up our days. I know about the big struggles, too... relationships, unemployment, family, health. A lot of them, I can speak with on a daily basis through comments about each others' posts. And it's like not a day has passed and we're seeing each other walking through the hall on our way to class.

It's nice to be able to reconnect with people who I lost to time. I can't believe it's been 25 years, and that we're in our early 40s. I remember when that seemed old.

I think the mind has a way of playing tricks on you. When you're in the moment, you don't realize how much time has gone by. Those moments add up almost imperceptibly, until you are forced to take stock of those moments as the passage of time.

In my mind, wondering how we're going to produce a 12-page newspaper every other week is high drama, Kyle is laughing hysterically at something on the TV in his room, and Aidan and Tristan will always be those little guys who ate two ounces at a time.

Memories are funny things.