The Time Between Sentences

When I am reading, I periodically want to backtrack to find some interesting part and reread it.  Then I have trouble actually finding the sentence.  I go back a ways and skim backwards little by little, not seeing it.  So then I turn back a page or two or three.  I know I have missed it, but now I am way too far back from where the interesting line was.  I return to where I paused, then I see the sentence I was looking for; it was only a few lines above where I had stopped.

Now, I admit that this doesn't say much for my ability to remember or to scan a page. However, it does say how amazing sentences can be.  The matter of a few sentences can contain so much information that it felt like several pages worth.

There is a great amount of time that can pass between sentences.  The sentence itself contains some amount of action (sometimes), but the proceeding sentence can take place any time beyond that.  It could be zero seconds, five seconds, five minutes, five years, or five generations.  The only thing more amazing than that is the fact that we humans can just accept it.  We can skip forward or backward in time and just say ok and go for the ride.  It may be disorienting at first, but we handle it just fine.