Is is just me or is time on speed this week?
My baby turns 16 today. It’s been a whirl and I’m breathless.
She’s away, ensconced as junior staff member at summer camp, the same one I went to, where I once thought sleeping here was divine.
We won’t be together to blow out any candles but she’ll get to skip around the dining hall and wear a silly sash I sent up.
Maybe it’s the lingering effects of that stunning film I saw on Sunday night.
Or the giggle still in my chest after seeing these ridiculously talented performers at the Fringe last week. I laughed so hard that I forgot I wasn’t one of the many college age kids in the audience. Time is your prisoner when you’re laughing.
But here’s proof that time lapse isn’t just in my head, rippling through images of my kid on speed dial.
It’s here in this talented British photographer’s work. Zed Nelson photographed one family together, on the same day, every year, against the same backdrop and lighting. Like the film Boyhood, the effect, played in slideshow format, is surprisingly moving.
Watch it here.
Once, I marked time with a morning ring around a flagpole. Summer camp rituals linger as smoke in the campfire. I have this posted up in my home office but I don’t need it. The words are burned in memory.
Happy Birthday kiddo. I’m saying it with you today. Here’s to summer standing still.
For more on time from one of this country’s finest poets, read Anne Carson.
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