How long is always?

"Now this speech is normally reserved for mother of the bride, but seeing as I'm super badass and everything I decided, screw it I'm stealing that speech." Beca paused as the wedding guests laughed. She looked beside her at her fiancé, sorry, wife, and saw Chloe's face reflecting her look of pure joy. 

"I have a question for you all; how long is always?

To the end of your life?

To the end of the world?

To the end of time?

For all we know, Always could be until tomorrow, but the thing is, we won't ever know. No one can know for sure when Always will end. But still they think it's okay to make promises like 'I'll always be there for you,' as if they have the power to control how long Always is.

To the end of your life?

When you are born, you basically get your own little designated amount of time you'll spend on our planet before you die and move on elsewhere. The thing about that little amount of time is that it is little. No one gets enough time to see how long Always is because otherwise they would be alive for way too long and that would be unfair for every other person on the planet. Time has his own special rules like that: he likes to at least try and be fair."

She paused as everyone laughed, imagining a little dude called Time.

"To the end of the world?

As we've already established, people don't live for a very long time."

Another pause. Honestly, she didn't know she was that funny. Maybe if the whole music producer thing doesn't work out she could be a comedian instead.

"It's very unlikely that anyone alive on the planet today would live to see the end of the world. Unless the world is blown up. Or people suddenly magically live for a very long time. Or unicorns actually exist and suddenly turn evil and take over the world."

She smiled at Chloe. 

"Or... You know, the world could end tomorrow. It might just decide that it doesn't want to rotate around the Sun anymore- maybe our pal Earth got a bit dizzy."

More laughter.

"But the thing is, even if the world ends tomorrow, we wouldn't know it was going to end until it had ended. Even then there wouldn't be anything or any people left to know the world had ended because they would have ended with it. No one can see into the future (or can they?)"

She pointed a suspicious finger at Lilly who just shrugged. 

"so no one will know the world will end until its way way way way too late.

To the end of time?

Now this is a tricky one. How the hell do I begin to explain how time works? How is it that it can feel so short but be so long? How is it that a math class feels like it takes days when it only takes an hour? Not to mention the good old saying, 'time flies when you're having fun'. I'm not even gonna go into space time - all I can understand is that you might only be on a planet for an hour, but you come back to Earth and 50 years have passed? How does that even make sense?

How long is always?"

She mustered a small smile at her dad who was already crying. She then turned to smile at Chloe and the Bellas sitting around them. She smoothed her clammy, sweaty hands on her wedding dress.

"You know, people in my life have an unfortunate habit of, well, you know, not staying in my life for very long."

Her dad started sobbing - he obviously knew what she meant. Some of the Bellas wore confused expressions; she never really talked a lot about her life. Chloe just smiled bravely at her wife.