10 years ago....

It was 1997. Wow. 1997 feels like it was yesterday. Really. In 1997 I was a sophomore in highschool. 2 years away from graduation. From getting engaged. From starting college at U of C. 3 years away from getting married. Where has the time gone?

Time is interesting. Because on the one hand, 1997 seems so long ago that I can' remember much about it except that I turned 16 that year - and that too, because I did the math. But on the other hand, when someone says 10 years ago it was 1997 - its like - whoa - that was THAT long ago?

How quickly time passes by - and how quickly we let it pass by. How quickly we forget the daily lessons we learn or the experiences that especially impact us....just thinking of all I have experienced in the past three years - graduation, pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood, grad school, Hajj - I know these experiences will fade into the background and 10 years from now, in 2017, I will be wondering where the time went and what it was I actually did in those 10 years.

In 1997 I used to look up to my older cousins and other older friends in the community who were 25, 26 years old and used to not be able to imagine where I'd be when I would be 25. I'm 25 now, almost 26 - are 16 year olds looking to me now and wondering the same thing? Do they see my life, my experiences, and wonder what their life will be like when they're my age?

Sometimes I forget I'm 25. I find myself looking up to "older" people and realizing that these people are now my peers, my equals, or maybe even younger than me. Sometimes I am surprised to hear that some people are as young as they are.