Recent ways I’ve watched my friends (and myself) measure time:
Letting a head cold run its course
Counting how many times one song played on repeat from her walk to the bodega and back again
Rationing the last pages of a book over the course of a week
Letting her eyebrows grow out
Increasing her stamina
Anticipating leather jacket season
The time it takes for rice to cook perfect
Noticing a new wrinkle near her eye when she laughs for real
Noticing a thread on a skirt hem unravel more and more
Remembering the last time she wore a skirt
Seeing the skin sag on her father’s neck when they facetime
Noting the way he seems more tired
Watching a gel manicure grow out
Waiting for his couch to arrive in the mail
Days left on antibiotics
Days left until rehearsals start
Estimating her time of arrival
Remembering the last time she saw a play, and with whom
Counting the hours since her last meal
Watching a scar heal
Watching a gold ring’s band start to thin
How long it’s been since she’s had sex
Bottle blonde hair growing out
Watching a polaroid develop
How many days she’s been sober
How many months she’s been sober
Hours spent on a layover
Time it took to finish that can of Altoids
Noting a year passing in the length of someone’s hair
Split ends
The last time she saw the ocean
Calculating how much time it’ll take to cab vs. subway
Perceiving afternoon shadows on her living room wall
How many pirouettes she can achieve in how many seconds
Time ticking on a YouTube ad before I press “Skip”
Frustratingly noting how quick this expensive candle melts into nothing
Seeing how fast it takes to finish leftover birthday cake
Remembering the last time a birthday felt like a new year
Finding last year’s Kleenex in a winter coat pocket
Finding a movie stub from a movie you hated but that you saw with someone you loved, and now too, hate a little
Finding a postcard in a book
Timestamp on a text
Years since you’ve worn yellow
Waiting for Pisces season to start
Waiting for mercury to no longer be in retrograde
Weeks pregnant
The moon
Watching the sole of her heeled boot wear out
Disbelief in recalling something that occurred more than a decade ago
How many minutes until the Uber arrives
Days it’s been since you wished you’d exchanged numbers
Waiting for the pizza to arrive
For the soup to cool
For the storm to pass
For my nerves to settle
For the fresh smell of paint to hopefully never, completely fade
How many days since you dropped off your dry-cleaning
Your favorite waitress is no longer at your favorite place
How many months it’s been since he’s last seen her
The way she stands different in the summer
The way she looks happiest in October
The way she seemed happier last year
A plant, once small, now spider-legging across a window sill
A baby cousin, now big enough to say your name
A bottle of Advil, suddenly empty
A deadline, suddenly imminent
The last page of a notebook
Remembering a grudge
Christmas, again
30, real soon
A year since he died
Wondering how many tasks you can accomplish while on hold
If when you surface from the subway, the sun will have already set
How long she can stay out based on what time she has to wake up
Counting the days it’s been since her last period
How many books he’s already read in the new year
The time it takes to drive somewhere in a snowstorm
Minutes spent in line at CVS while hungover
Experiencing estrangement from someone
Running out of olive oil
The days already feeling longer
