I looked at the clock for the fifth time today. The day will finally end. It has been such a slow day today. The hours went by like centuries, and everything was as still as a lake on a clear, sunny day.

I blinked. I saw time move quickly. I was suddenly leaving my house to go to my new high school.

I must have missed something. It was only yesterday I was waiting for school to end. It was only yesterday I was in 8th hour staring at the clock hand slowly moving. I swear I just started middle school.

I’m in my biology class. Next hour is my creative writing class. I’m patiently looking at the clock. The hands are teasing me, they’re moving so gradually, as if it can’t reach the next minute.

Just as the bell was about to ring, just as we were about to leave, I blinked. I was at my graduation. Everytime that this happens, I’m left with only the memories of what had previously happened.

I saw my parents so proud, they were congratulating me. I can promise you I was just waiting for my favorite class. I had only started high school a year ago. This wasn’t supposed to happen again.

I’m waiting for my job interview. I just finished College and graduated to become a nurse. The head nurse is going to interview me today, but I’m so nervous. I need to be completely focused. I look at the clock. It’s almost time. The tension is killing me, I just want the interview to start. Just as the nurse came in, I blinked, and suddenly I was saying goodbye to my husband, who was playing with my kid. She’s a girl. I’ve always wanted a little girl.

It’s like I always knew them, but I had barely met them now. It’s only now I realized that I know every step they’re going to take, I know what they’re afraid of, what food they like to eat, what they love to do in their free time. I know each of them yet I haven’t met them, not until now.

I was just about to take my little girl to daycare, but she was running late. I was looking at the clock while she was patiently putting on her shoes. Just as she finished and we were headed to the door, I blinked, and suddenly I was at her graduation. She looked so happy. She was Valedictorian. Where did the years go?

I swear just yesterday she was running into my arms yelling that she was ready to go, with her purple coat half-zipped and her shoes on backwards. We were in such a hurry. When did she grow into this intelligent young woman?

I was at the altar, waiting for my little girl to come out in her wedding dress. She had found the man of her dreams, who was now standing in front of the crowd, with the priest right next to him. She had recently found out she was pregnant. I’m going to be a grandma. She had on a lace dress, with gold earrings and a silky veil. I helped her get ready that morning. I was looking at the clock, waiting for her to come out with her dad walking her down the aisle. 

She was just walking down, teary eyed and happy, just about to get married to the love of her life, when I blinked. And I was at home with my husband by my side, as I was playing with my grandchildren. I was waiting for my daughter to pick them up. I didn’t want to leave them. I remember it was only yesterday she had found out she was pregnant, and when she told me I was so happy. I swear she was just getting married.

I was now by my husband's side once again, but the atmosphere was cold, and dim, and yet, it felt like I was waiting for something that would give me freedom. I recognized where I was. I was at the hospital. The same hospital where I had my little girl. The same hospital where she had her’s. We witnessed birth, and now we’ll witness death. I looked at the clock as my daughter was crying, but my husband looked like he was waiting for his time too. It was only a matter of time.

As I waited for a final goodbye, I kept looking at the clock. Oh how time goes by so quickly when we seem to find it slowest. I drifted slowly, and just as I said my goodbyes, I blinked, and this time, I didn’t wake up.