Youth/Time

            I enjoyed the first page of part two after the break in the book.  It talks about youth and what we think about life.  I like the line, “Also, when you are young, you think you can predict the likely pains and bleakness that age might bring,” (page 65).  I find this relatable because I have never experienced that painful in my life so far and I am so thankful for that.  However, I may not be ready for the pains that may reach me in later parts of my life.  I think I am ready, but one can understand such pains until they experience them themselves. 

The next sentence after this one was also relatable.  “You imagine yourself being lonely, divorced, widowed, children growing away from you, friends dying,” (page 65).  I find this relatable because I do this all the time.  I imagine every part of life that I may experience so I am ready for it if it comes and I know what to do.  For example, I sometimes imagine what will happen if I don’t get married and have kids (which I really do want to do).  I imagine how lonely I will feel and how I will have to make up for it with having many friends to hang out with on the weekends or at nights.

I also love the focus on time in this book.  I feel like everyone feels restricted by time so it is a very relatable topic for readers.  Barnes defines it perfectly by saying, “We live in time, it bounds us and defines us,” (page 66).  I found this sentence to be completely real.  For example when I am doing something really fun I tend to keep looking at my phone to make sure that it is not time to leave and I still have enough time to have fun.  This is a bad quality because it is better just to enjoy the moment without worrying about time restrictions, but I still do it.  I have another example of something that just happened to me last week.  My family came in town for a week and I hadn’t seen my brother, sister in law, niece, and nephew in awhile and I was so excited.  While they were here, I had so much fun with them but I kept counting how many more days they had left to make sure their trip wasn’t over.  I didn’t want the week to end so I kept looking to see what day it was.  This is an example how time bounded me.