My daughter and I are looking at a shirt tacked to my wall. The shirt was presented last year for Father's Day. It says "Awarded Best Dad – Hands Down" and came with finger paints, so four of the girls left their hand prints and names in red and blue.
A lot has changed since the shirt was painted. The girls who signed the shirt are gone. There are these other girls here now who look a lot the same, but they are older, their bodies have grown, their minds have developed, their personas have matured. I have a different job, live in a different house, drive a different car, have new friends, and own different ideas about the future.
Time passes and lives change. Sometimes dramatically and quickly, but more often our lives change in tiny bits day by day. We need to set goals so life doesn't pass without direction, and we need to establish markers, like the shirt, to capture moments and give us memories. Those moments build momentum for the future and allow us to evaluate the present to make sure the two are still aligned.
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