The Old Woman at the Door Visits Again

I was working about in the garden on Sunday when out of the corner of my eye, I saw her walking toward me.

She was wearing her usual attire, this time it was jeans with a long-sleeved green t-shirt. Once again she reminded me of someone I should know, but I wasn’t quite sure who. As she walked toward me, with a smile on her face, I greeted her like an old friend, wondering all the while what she wanted.

She admired the flowering cabbage and told me she was a bit surprised that this was the first time I’d planted it for fall. I had to admit, those cabbages did look good, three in one container and one in another. They were simple decorations for fall and would be easy to care for. She felt certain I would plant them next fall, too. How could she know?

After some more mindless chit chat, she got around to the reason for her visit – she wanted to tell me something, give me some advice. I had expected that was the case. The Old Woman at the Door seemed to always have some advice or insight to share with me.

“Carol, do you know what’s the fastest moving thing around here?”

I took a guess. Was it the speed at which your neighbor’s leaves will blow into your yard after you’ve finished raking on a pleasant weekend afternoon?

“Sounds like you’ve been working on that analogy for awhile.”

I couldn’t lie. I had been looking for just the right opportunity to use it. Faster than a blowing leaf…

“Carol, though leaves are fast moving, I was actually thinking that Time is faster, especially when you look at it in the rear view mirror that everyone carries with them. You look back and you can’t believe have fast Time has gone by. But when you look forward, Time seems deceptively slow, like it will take forever to get here. Keep that in mind.”

Then, just as quick as I looked down at some weeds tickling my ankle and then back up at the Old Woman, she had once again disappeared. Honestly, she must be the fastest thing around here, the way she comes and goes in what seems like the blink of an eye.

I had no idea why she decided to tell me about Time, but decided I’d think it over some more while I pulled weeds and worked on getting the garden ready for winter. Funny how just a few weeks ago, I thought I had a lot of time to clean up the garden and plant some bulbs. Now, looking at the calendar, I could see that Time was moving quickly. The Old Woman at the Door was right about that.

But why did she make it a point to tell me this now?