The old will tell you
life goes by in the blink of an eye.

They are not wrong,
but we don't see that until
our eyes open after the blink.

I look back and see my life;
the happy childhood with loving parents
is as clear as if it was yesterday.

I shake my head in disbelief
when I realize it's nearly fifty years
since I met my soulmate.

It seems impossible, 
but in the space of a heartbeat,
the babies who grew inside me
are grown and moving forward
with lives of their own,
where I am on the periphery,
looking in with love and pride.

A life holds billions of heartbeats
before it is done.
We cannot let the spaces between
go unnoticed until it's too late
to appreciate them.

~Elise Skidmore ©2023

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4 Comments

  1. Good one 👏 I especially liked ‘They are not wrong,
    but we don’t see that until
    our eyes open after the blink.’