Ever wonder where that elusive missing sock went?
Everything that went into the washer goes into the dryer. When the dryer is done, you take the clothes out and start folding. And there it is. One sock without its partner.
So, you go back and check the dryer.
Then the washer.
Then you retrace your steps to see if you dropped it somewhere.
You check the hamper. Nothing.
So where did it go?
I sometimes feel the same way about time. Where does the time go? One minute you are 18, and what feels like five minutes later, you are in your golden years. You know the years were there. You remember the things you did, the places you went, the people you loved. But how did it all move so quickly?
I remember being told as a child that the older you get, the faster time goes. I did not really believe it then. I do now.
There are moments you wish you could go back and redo. Things you never tried that you wish you had. Things you did wrong that you would gladly do differently. Not to change everything. Just to understand it a little better.
Getting older also seems to come with a new talent: misplacing things. You take something from its usual spot, set it down somewhere else, and the next time you need it, it is nowhere to be found. And so, the search begins.
In some ways, people are like that, too. One minute, they are part of your everyday life, and the next minute, they are gone. Friendships change. Relationships fade. Paths go in different directions.
Some people stay only a short while. Maybe to teach us something, to make us laugh, to sit with us in a hard moment. Others stay for years and feel permanent, until one day they are not.
And you find yourself wondering the same quiet question again:
Where did they go?
Maybe life is full of small mysteries we are never meant to solve. Missing socks. Lost time. Changing people.
Maybe the point is not figuring out where they went, but appreciating that, for a while, they were here at all.
And as Tigger would say, “TTFN, Ta, ta, for now”.