Dividing Time

I had a realization the other day. When we moved to Germany, nearly 17 years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall had been down for… nearly 17 years. Specifically, between November 11, 1989, and June 2, 2006, there were 6049 days. And 6049 days from the day we arrived here was Christmas Eve of last year.

It does not feel all that long ago that we’ve lived here. So that is how the reunification of Germany felt to the people around us back then… recent. However, some 34 years have passed now, and it does feel like a long time.

To make matters even more interesting… when the wall came down I was 16 years old. Not quite 6049 days old, but close. 5964. My life is trifurcated by these two events. And each of the 16+ year periods have moved at different speeds. Life moves faster and faster.

There are other big events that divide my life up into balanced segments. My firstborn child was born when I was 9048 days old… 9048 days ago last February. And my dad is another 9000 days older than that.

It is fun to find patterns in things, and to compare the way those patterns… compare. I particularly find an 11-year pattern in my own life inescapable.