Have you ever sat and watched the second hand on a clock work its way around, one tick at a time? It can be mesmerizing, actually leading you to start counting, 1-2-3-4-5…and it goes on, and on, and on, since it has since the beginning of time, just whenever that was. But the passage and definition of time has been calculated and defined in many ways since that beginning, and that history is fascinating.
Being a lover of history since I was a young kid, I, like many, have always noted memorable historic dates and anniversaries that have become signposts, or mile markers, in our cultural timeline. Such notable dates are December 7, 1941 and June 6, 1944. Though before my time, I learned of them in my history classes at school which I followed up with my own reading and research over the years.
Then there’s the memorable events that have marked my lifetime: 11/22/1963, the assassination of President Kennedy; and 9/11, two numbers that will forever stand on their own with no year necessary. Of course, those are only a few dates of importance in my memory.
But just this past week, I passed a personal signpost, or mile marker, in my life: I celebrated another birthday.
However, instead of just acknowledging the date and adding another year to my age, I went a different route. I did the math and figured out how many seconds I’d lived. And to do this, I also had to consider how many leap years there had been in my lifetime to know the correct number of days I’d lived before I could even do the math.
And on completion of my calculations, I came up with the fact that since that 3:20 PM on that long-ago Sunday afternoon I had lived 2,051,222,400 seconds. That’s Two billion, fifty-one million, two hundred twenty-two thousand and four hundred seconds old. Certainly a different way of gauging the passage of the elapsed time of one’s life.
And what better way to celebrate this special day than to go and spend 7,200 seconds playing 9-holes of golf.
Hmmm, that surely could get complicated, trying to figure time in seconds as opposed to counting days, months and years. But considering that massive number, 2,051,222,400, that’s a lot of ticks on the ol’ clock, 3,600 ticks per each hour I’ve lived. And here’s to hoping there’s many more ticks and good vibes left! See y’all next year in another 31,536,000 seconds…(“,)
Happy belated birthday!! I hope it was a great one. I wouldn’t have even thought about factoring in the leap years.
Thanks for the birthday wishes…(“,)
Happy birthday! It’s funny how fast time seems to fly by until you break it down. Then you realize just how long you’ve been alive. It feels so short, but it’s really so long.
Thanks for the birthday wishes…(“,) It truly has been a long journey but I would have thought since it was so long that there would have been more seconds in my calculation.
Happy Birthday! It’s awesome to hear you had a good time, it is interesting to hear how many seconds it has been, I wonder how many seconds I’ve been alive for!
‘Tis really just simple, basic math to figure it out; just be sure to include the Leap Years in your calculations.
Happy Birthday! To many more! That is a lot of ticks, I don’t even want to think about my seconds! Makes me feel like I am wasting too many!
Happy birthday!! There are so many important dates that stick with you! 9/11 will be by far one of the worst ones for me! I still can’t believe it happened!! Another date I will always remember is when Princess Diana died
Happy Birthday to you. I hope that you enjoyed your birthday and that you got to spend time playing golf. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with life by counting by seconds. haha It’s too complicated for my old brain.
Happy Birthday! Wishing you many more seconds, minutes, hours and years to come! Spending the day on the links seems a fitting way to enjoy the day. Hope you had a wonderful birthday.
Happy birthday! What an interesting way to think of it. When I think of the number of seconds I’ve already lived, it really puts into perspective the importance of every single moment.
Happy Birthday! I definitely do not want to calculate my own seconds, lol. There are definitely important dates for different generations. The JFK assassination was one for my mom. I think for my generation it was 9/11.
Time is such a funny thing. We either have too little of it or too much on our hands it seems. Happy Birthday to you!