Wow! Here we are, ending the fourth month of the year, a third of the way into 2025, and some may look back on the past four months, wondering where the time has gone, not just in 2025, but in our entire lifetime. Often, time, as it seems like the world and our lives are speeding by, not even letting us catch our breath. At times like these, we may need to put our foot on the imaginary brake pedal that may allow us to slow down, make a short stop, or even throw the vehicle of our existence into reverse, and appreciate how far we have come, where we are now, how we got here, and think about the paths/roads of our life we will travel next.

Recording artist Al Stewart collaborated his song writing skills with Peter Harry White, and came up with a follow-up to Stewart’s his Year of the Cat, and in 1978, released the record, Time Passages, on the album of the same name, which told of a young man making a trip back home, maybe for an upcoming holiday, and on his journey recalling nostalgic memories of his past, as was stated in the lyrics of the first stanza of the song, “It was late in December, the sky turned to snow, All round the day was going down so slow, Night like a river beginning to flow, I felt the beat of my mind go, Drifting into time passages, Years go falling in the fading light, Time passages, Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight.”

Sometimes, as we spend time alone with our thoughts, those mental scenarios of our life, may, be they past or present, be triggered by a certain smell, or a song, or a poem, or passing a building may trigger something from our past. Sometimes, a picture may nudge us back to something that happened in our life and the memories are so special, we may want to stay there for a bit in our minds, just to escape the hustle and bustle, the worries and/or questions, the stress and/or the tension, of what may be happening in our present day lives. That is not living in the past, it is more like using the past for a therapeutic recharging of our internal mental and physical “batteries” to strengthen us to move forward and face whatever might be in our future. The entire song’s lyrics are:

“It was late in December, the sky turned to snow

All round the day was going down slow

Night like a river beginning to flow

I felt the beat of my mind go

Drifting into time passages

Years go falling in the fading light

Time passages

Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Well I’m not the kind to live in the past

The years run too short and the days too fast

The things you lean on are the things that don’t last

Well it’s just now and then my line gets cast into these

Time passages

There’s something back here that you left behind

Oh time passages

Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn

Don’t know why you should feel

That there’s something to learn

It’s just a game that you play

Well the picture is changing

Now you’re part of a crowd

They’re laughing at something

And the music’s loud

A girl comes towards you

You once used to know

You reach out your hand

But you’re all alone, in these

Time passages

I know you’re in there, you’re just out of sight

Time passages

Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight”

We can’t live in the past, because it is no more, no more than we can live in the future, because we don’t know what it will hold, but the difference is we can visit our past, remember select memories from our past, and cherish our past, things that helped us get to where we are now. We can learn from our past, and we can share our past with those who came after us, and pass along our failures and successes to maybe influence their futures in some way, shape, or form.

We can buy “a ticket for the last train home tonight,” if just for a short time to steady ourselves in the hectic times of now. Time passes is a tribute to the power of our memory, realizing that memories may just appear from time to time out of nowhere, and surprise us, sometimes happily, sometimes not. Maybe too, the lyrics may help us in our lives.

I am a music (most all genres) lover, and I believe that music isn’t only good for entertainment, it often sends messages, lessons if you will, to those who listen to it. When I listen to music, I focus on the lyrics and try to interpret their meaning and see if the words may be mini-lessons for all of us to use in our lives.

Sometimes, songs open some of our time passages that will allow our pasts to help shape our futures, and maybe the futures of those who are special to us. The greatest gift we can give to someone is part of ourselves. I hope those special to me might take some of my love for music, and my attention to lyrics, the mini-lessons I get from songs, to use as they move forward.