About the passing of time

A small moment of realisation

Today, something happened that made me look at our life from a different perspective.

After work, I talked with the man whose house we had just cleaned. The elderly man asked me in Norwegian:

“How do you like it here in Norway?”

And somehow, I answered.

I still get surprised by moments like that. My Norwegian is broken, but it’s Norwegian. We understood each other.

He asked what my husband does (no, we’re not married), which naturally led to the YouTube channel.

“Do you know what YouTube is?” I asked him.

“I know what it is, but my son has to help me find it.”

Meanwhile, his fingers moved across the remote controller, scrolling through the different apps on his TV. And there it was: YouTube.

“Look, there it is!”, I said. “I can show you Bernardo’s channel.”

And there we were, sitting together, watching a part of our life on his screen.

It was a bit embarrassing seeing myself so big on his TV, but he genuinely seemed entertained. He smiled as he watched us work on the house, trying to bring it back to life.

Sitting there with him, I suddenly became very aware of the passing of time.

This place is, like many rural areas, slowly becoming quieter. Young people leave, shops close, schools become smaller while elderly care centres fill up. This man himself recently had to say goodbye to his wife as she moved into a nursing home.

I don’t know what he thought while watching. But I hope, in some small way, it reminded him that even in places where things are becoming quieter, new stories are still beginning.

Halfway through the video, it was time for me to leave. I asked him if I should turn off the TV for him.

“No. I want to keep watching it.”

Thank you for reading!

Jule Noah