Five minutes.

The first time I realized the actual length of a minute was during a skating game with my eldest brother.

 I don’t remember if I was eight then, but it was definitely during the popularity of roller skates. We each had our own pair of in-line skates, which I heard, was better and more modern , than the usual roller skates.

My brother and I gave each other a minute to show-off our skating moves. He went first and I was getting impatient because he seemed to take long. I complained and he replied to look at our stopwatch which we used to time ourselves. True enough, he only took a minute.

I though then, “oh. that’s how long a minute is? I thought a minute is just a minute. As quick as you say it.”

Twelve years later, in my first week in the call center, I discovered how long seconds can take.

I was itching to log-out and hoping for the dial to drop my time and there was only a few seconds left and I don’t want to get a call in my last second.

The seconds, I found out, also mattered in time keeping, especially when I’m running late.

Now, I left Ronald in Manila with a promise to return in six months. A month has flown by quickly, but looking ahead, the five months seem very far away.