The Missing Minute

Children have such a different perspective about everything than adults do.  I cognitively know that as a fact, but am still surprised when I hear it first hand. The other night my 10-year old grandson was talking with me via FaceTime on his iPad.  He asked me what time it was.  I said 7:33.  He said no, it was 7:32.  We checked with our computers, which are theoretically linked to the perfect time-telling machine in the ether, and sure enough, our two houses were a minute apart.  And we only live 5 miles or so from each other so there was no time zone issue here.

He said “Oh no! What happened to your minute?”  I replied that my minute was the same minute as his minute but just at a different minute.  Yes, I really said that.

twilightzone-portal-banner

“YOU MISSED A MINUTE.”  And I wondered if I ever had that perspective.  It is a very existential concept.  The missing minute.  I opened my mouth to say that it didn’t really matter and then I stopped to think.  What did happen to that minute?  Did I have 60 seconds of time that he didn’t have?  Where did the 60 seconds between 7:32 and 7:33 go?  Into the Twilight Zone?

 

 

We aren’t Mayans, so our calendars aren’t perfect.  And time is “told” (an expression that is so interesting that it warrants its own blog post) by machines that aren’t always synced. But I realized that he thought that 60 seconds went by that either I experienced but wasn’t aware of, or, that I had actually missed the 60 seconds that he had experienced.  Or perhaps I had experienced that minute in the future.

The missing minute.

About Barb Knowles

The things that are important to me are family, friends, teaching, writing, languages and using my sense of humor to navigate this crazy world. Please join me on this blogging adventure...
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12 Responses to The Missing Minute

  1. Bea dM says:

    woah there! what’s your grandson going to say when we go on (or is it off?) daylight-saving time again? 24 whole Twilight Zone hours – one way or the other!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Hiya Barb! 🙂 I wonder if you’d mind checking out my blog, too? 😀
    Regards,
    Kim ❤

    Liked by 1 person

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