La Vie Est Belle: The Time of My Life.

I’m so quick to declare in my ever-so-shrill yet enchanting voice, “I’m having the time of my life!” I love how this phrase stands in defiance of a literal interpretation. After all, how can one have multiple “times of my life” when it’s called “the time” — suggesting that the time of one’s life is a single point in time where one is at their life’s peak — experiencing a moment so profound it demands preservation?

A collection of “Times of my life”.

And yet, this paradox captures the human experience perfectly. Life is not defined by one grand peak but by a collection of moments — several “times of our lives.” Again and again, we reach a point that feels like the pinnacle, only for another moment to appear just around the corner, making us exclaim once more, “I am having the time of my life!” Life, then, is an abundance of “times of our lives.”

This realization has shaped the way I exist within these multiple “times of my life.” Rather than clinging to each one, desperately trying to extend its lifespan, I embrace them as they come — savoring each fully, knowing they are waymakers for even greater moments ahead.

Made my siblings recreate a TikTok trend with me. They had too much fun.

I’ve freed “the time of my life” from the burden of always being grandiose. I have allowed it to take on diverse forms:

• being an extension of my sister having the time of her life simply because I came up with a fake alias, “Okonchimnyero”
• chasing after my partner barefooted on the paved floors and watching him run out of breath — because, well, he’s fast approaching 30
• sprawled on the floor of my university apartment, gasping for air, fighting for my life because I am experiencing a fit of laughter from sharing a joke with Jojo, Omi, Nengi, and Teme
• dancing and singing — putting on a whole performance to the ABBA Essentials playlist while walking home from work
• looking through photos and watching videos of my family from past years and, seeing the ways we’ve changed, reminiscing on those captured moments
• the eyes of my understanding being enlightened as I studied the book of Ephesians with The Bible Project’s Classroom
• finishing a painting of red poppies, stepping back, and realizing, I have done a good thing.

I honor these moments. These people. These places. The things that have shaped them. I recognize how they have nourished my being. I let them serve their purpose, surrendering to their rhythms.

I savor each one and welcome the next with growing joy.

We had just finished Gross Anatomy practicals and decided to have a dance party while we pack up.

And right now, in this very moment, writing about the times of our lives — I am having the time of my life.

If my life had a theme song, it’ll be Dancing Queen by Abba. Which is ironic because I am a terrible dancer.