Time Flies

I have heard it said that time moves faster with each year…

Age 4: Crammed in the backseat of a light blue Volkswagon Beetle with my three closest carpool-mates, looking at my friend’s 7-year-old sister with awe, I think “I will never be that old.”

Age 14: Three years still seems a long way off, but now my thoughts are filled with “I can’t wait for graduation!”

Age 24: The years begin to flow together, but I still think I have a whole life ahead of me. “Maybe in three years I’ll think about settling down and building a family…”

Age 34: “Three years from now, I’ll be closer to forty than thirty. What have I done with my life?”

I haven’t made it to 44 quite yet (three more years, in fact!), but I hope that my perspective continues to be more influenced by eternity than by the short-term milestones that we seem to crave to mark our lives with meaning. As I think more tactically about passing through time, I realize it’s been over a year since I shared an update about the final trip to Ukraine, and about Lena’s adjustment to American life.

Below, you’ll find a very abbreviated rundown of the past year (A Year and a Little More) and also my long overdue story of the second trip to Ukraine last year (Family of Four)…I think it has taken me this long to recover and be able to speak of that week without having flashbacks! Enjoy!