We know why the years seem to go by faster as we get older: When you were nine, another year was a whole 10th of your life. When you're 40, a year is only a 40th of your life. So it seems like nothing—because it almost is nothing.
Except, it isn't nothing—it's a whole year.
This time warp affects the way we think of our friends, too. When you were 30, someone you'd known since college was a kind of brother or a sister to you, because you'd known them all your adult life. (And through some important years.)
But now in midlife, you can be knowing a body for nine years, and when Facebook reminds you, you're surprised. It feels like you just met that person. That's the time warp again.
And it's dangerous.
Because if you treat that person like a recent acquaintance when they've been a faithful friend with whom you've shared life's roiling ocean for most of a decade, you might hurt that person's feelings.
Maybe it's hard to feel like family with someone you've met later in life.
But someone with whom you've kept in steady touch for decade in the mad middle of middle life—that person might be your family.
And you should take special care to extend your gratitude.
Which is the purpose of this post, my midlife friends and midlife family.
You know who you are, don't you?
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