The Days are Long, but the Years are Short

So when I posted my little rant yesterday, I noticed that all the ages in my profile were wrong. I'm *gulp* 35 now, Supergirl is 9 and Wildman is 5. (We all have Fall birthdays, so we've each had a birthday since my last post.) I just changed them, and it reminded me of this idea from the book The Happiness Project - that the days are long, but the years are short. Incidentally, I really liked The Happiness Project. I had heard of it, but I wouldn't have picked it up except that my local book club chose it as their book for November. What's funny is that I REALLY liked it - like took notes (which I NEVER do), planning my own Happiness Project - liked it. And the rest of the group (y'know, the people who chose to read it), didn't like it. In fact, several of them REALLY disliked it. It's so funny, I like this group, but I am often out-of-step with them. The books they love, I generally dislike, and the books I love, they generally dislike. Oh well, it's still fun to go talk about books.

Anyway, the idea in The Happiness Project, that the days are long but the years are short - it's basically saying that sometimes we can barely drag ourselves through the day (and by "we", I mean "I"), but the years fly by like nothing. Ain't that the truth?! I cannot believe that my kids are 9 and 5 now. It seems like no time has passed since I was pregnant, or holding a little teeny baby. When I think about how long it's been since college, or high school, or being a teenager, or my childhood - well. It's surprising, is what it is. The other day, we were at lunch and there was a tv with some news program on and they were talking about John Hinckley's request to spend more time out of the mental institution that he was sentenced to after he shot President Regan 30 years ago. And it was so shocking to me that the shooting was 30 years ago. I remember when that happened. Granted, it's the first national news story that I can remember, but holy cats! That's 30 years ago now. I remember in my mid-twenties when I realized that some of the things I remembered had happened 20 years ago and it was so surprising because 20 sounds like such a huge number. I'm having the same feeling now with 30 years. It is WEIRD to realize that something I remember happened 30 years ago. I guess it's that, in the abstract, the phrase, "30 years ago" sounds like ancient history. And when I put it into perspective and realize that something I remember personally happened "30 years ago", it's a little shocking. But, life goes on, right? I don't have a problem with being 35, I'm happy with my life and what I'm doing with it, but it does sound like a long time when I think about it. (So I shouldn't think about it, right?!)

We Need a Little Christmas

This is entirely too nerdy to be said in real life, but I need to get it off my chest. So I'm going to tell y'all! How lucky are you?!

Are you all familiar with the song, "We Need a Little Christmas"? Cheery little song that gets played throughout the holiday season, right? (It's playing right now because my Christmas obsessed co-worker has had Christmas music playing for the past two weeks. In totally related news, my homicide level is rising.) But, here's the thing: That is not a Christmas song. It's from the musical Mame, which is not very well known because it kind of sucks. And it's not even a Christmas song in the musical, either! Auntie Mame starts singing, and drags out a bunch of Christmas decorations, in the SUMMER, because she and her nephew are having a hard time, and everything they try to do is falling apart. So they pretend that it is Christmas time to cheer themselves up. And yes, I guess it kind of CAN be a Christmas song, in that it's saying we need to channel the Christmas spirit even if it isn't Christmas time, so when it IS Christmas time, we need the Christmas spirit even more, but still. It bugs me literally every time I hear it.