Time flies.

The days are getting ahead of me. I'm packing them in but the date changes so swiftly, I'm having trouble keeping up with it . And it doesn't help that I'm running less slowly. As soon as I get up to speed, I'll catch up, maybe. Like that ad, whatever your normal is. What's normal these days and who decides?

I've said it before, that we take in, consume, encounter, absorb - well, maybe , not absorb - more in a day or a week than an earlier generation did in a month, or even a year, certainly more than we can comfortably or quickly assimilate. I've used that verb before and I'm going to look it up to make sure I know what I'm talking about, so maybe you will, too. It means to "take in (information, ideas, or culture) and understand fully: Marie tried to assimilate the week's events." (So did I, every week.)

And here's a list of synonyms:

1 the amount of information he can assimilate: absorb, take in, acquire, soak up, pick up, grasp, comprehend, understand, learn, master; digest, ingest. YES!

2 they were crushed and ultimately assimilated by the Romans: subsume, incorporate, integrate, absorb, engulf, acculturate; co-opt, adopt, embrace, admit. NOTE ABSORB

3 after arriving, it took us some time to assimilate: integrate, blend in. WE TRY

(Please note: I have always done this, checked my words before moving on, ever since my essay-writing days at university. Writing maketh an exact man; checking facts and vocabulary maketh this woman exact.)

All those verbs are what I try to do after so many facts, experiences, ideas and emotions have assaulted me.

No one ever said it was easy.

And time's arrow flies on.