By ChoitalykRuman
It was a quiet Thursday morning when Sonoma looked out her kitchen window, coffee in hand, and noticed how golden the leaves had turned. The trees that had once been full of vibrant green were now casting soft shadows in shades of amber and rust. She smiled, but a strange heaviness settled in her chest.
“Wasn’t it just spring?” she whispered to herself.
That morning, she realized how quickly life was passing her by. The days seemed to melt into one another. Morning turned into night almost before she had time to sit down. Mondays disappeared into Fridays, and the months… well, they vanished before she could catch her breath. Her children, once clinging to her knees, now lived in cities hours away. Her parents, once so lively, were beginning to slow down.
She hadn’t planned for life to move this fast—it just did.
And that’s the thing, isn’t it? We don’t always see it happening. We think we have time. We tell ourselves we’ll make that call later, take that trip next year, start that project when things calm down. We hold back on saying “I love you” or “I’m sorry” because we assume there will always be another chance.
But time doesn’t wait.
Sonoma remembered how her best friend, Laila, used to say, “The coffee gets cold, sweetheart. Don’t wait too long.” She thought of the last time they sat on the porch together, wrapped in blankets, laughing over nothing—and how she hadn’t known it would be their last afternoon like that. Life had changed since then. Laila was gone now. Just like so many others Sonoma had loved.
Still, despite all that time had taken, Sonoma wasn’t bitter. In fact, something inside her softened that day. She knew she couldn’t get back the years, but she could show up for the ones still unfolding.
So, she decided to live with more presence. To stop rushing. To stop waiting for “later” to do the things her heart whispered for her to do now.
She began lighting candles at dinner, even when she ate alone. She called her son just to hear his voice. She walked barefoot in the grass when no one was watching. She looked strangers in the eye and smiled, even if they didn’t smile back. She started writing down her stories—just in case her grandchildren wanted to know one day who she really was.
Sonoma chose not to let life slip by unnoticed anymore.
And maybe that’s the message for all of us:
We may not be able to slow time, but we can honor it.
We can fill our days with beauty, connection, and meaning.
We can say the words that matter.
We can stop saving joy for special occasions.
We can stop treating “later” like it’s promised.
Because it’s not.
The days we live now are the special occasions.
Life may feel long, but it’s really a blink.
And the only way to make the most of it is to start—today, right now—with whatever love, peace, and joy we can carry.
Author = #ChoitalykRuman
#UmmeyMiah 5/31/2025