Fugit? Just a Bit.

 The ED and partner were out today, bringing us a varied and delicious lunch and, as well, doing a bit of housework and shovelling. The ED went for a shot snowshoe but found it hard going – no trail – and bitterly cold with the high wind that we still had. She said she worried a bit about frostbite. I  had to laugh, because the year that she and her sister got their own snowshoes for Christmas, the Boxing Day weather was a match for today’s in cold and wind, but it was sunny and the girls had to try their new freedom and so we went out for a walk. And I watched their small rosy faces like a hawk, looking for white patches that would signal a problem. I guess I make a point, because the daughter, today, said she was checking. And she will be 60 on her birthday in two month’s time.

How does this happen? a small voice in my head is babbling. How do small rosy girls in so short a time turn into highly accomplished adults with stellar careers behind them, life choices worked out (well, sort of), capable senior women who arrive to look after their aged parents. Wasn’t that Boxing Day walk just a few years ago? There’s a Latin tag that says it all. Provided you were squashed through high school Latin, that is. Otherwise, it is almost always translated. “The most common Latin phrase for "fleeting time" is Tempus fugit, which literally translates to "time flees" or, more commonly, "time flies". “

In fact, what I was thinking of was Horace, not Vergil. “Eheu fugaces labuntur anni is a famous Latin phrase from the Roman poet Horace meaning "Alas, the fleeting years slip by," a poignant reflection on the swift passage of time and the transient nature of life, often used to encourage living in the moment, much like the modern "YOLO" (You Only Live Once). It comes from Horace's Odes (Book 2, Ode 14) and serves as a reminder that life is short, urging us to appreciate it before it's gone.” 

I do love the internet’s ability to patch the leaking holes in my aged brain this way, I really do. Both these quotes are from Google’s AI summaries.

If I were to be honest, and I made a pact with myself to be honest here, I liked Latin. Or, I did until I got in over my head. High school Latin was finite, memorizable, and I got fine marks and thought highly of myself. And so, I selected it as a minor in my university course, a teachable second subject for a Type A teaching certificate. And I ended up, because the subject was very specialized, in small classes with the Classics majors. Who were much better at it than I was. Where the breadth of the course was too wide to allow of my memorizing the translations. And I struggled. Got bare passing grades. But I still loved it by times, especially a course in Latin drama where we got to read aloud. Pure fun. Of course, I never taught it because it was almost out of fashion by the time I was teaching. 

Very occasionally I get to mention that I studied Latin in university for four years and the amusement in watching the face of my listener is worth a lot.

Anyone want to take a selfie? But , come on, you always knew I was a bit weird.