American author Nathaniel Hawthorne once said: "Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind." Let's explore that tail, shall we? It's not an easy task, but Bored Panda put together a list of photos that capture this elusive silhouette quite well.
From a meatball that has spent decades in epoxy to 1,800-year-old Roman leather sandals, the things you're going to see below have all faced the biggest battle in the universe — the passage of time — but took different wounds. Continue scrolling to compare them and if you want more of the same, fire up our similar publications here, here, and here.
#1 This Jack O Lantern With Mold Growing From Inside
Image credits: SnapDragon0420
#2 Brickwork By The Sea
Image credits: Keycuk
#3 The Wear And Scuff-Marks On This Boat Look Like An Island In The Sea
Image credits: supremo92
#4 You Can Tell Where People Tend To Line Up At This Brooklyn Hardware Store By Where The Linoleum Tile Has Been Worn Away To Reveal The Original Ceramic
Image credits: RebbeofBK
#5 The One And Only Basketball That Lives At The Local Park And Somehow Still Bounces
Image credits: sangallium
#6 My Work ID Has Been In Its Plastic Holder For So Long That It’s Imprinted This Ghostly Image Of My Face
Image credits: cannibalism_is_vegan
#7 The Knife At The Left Was Used By A Butcher For 5 Years Straight. The One At The Right Is The Exact Same Knife, But Brand New
Image credits: MBMV
#8 About Time I Bought Some New Work Boots
Image credits: jordanburic
#9 1,800-Year-Old Roman Leather Sandals On Display At Vindolanda Fort In Northumberland, England
Image credits: Stotallytob3r
#10 Just Found An Old Roll Of Biodegradable Poop Bags, They Really Do Disintegrate Like Advertised
Image credits: terencebogards
#11 160 Years Of Foot Traffic Over The Step Into My Local Pub
Image credits: Dyslexicelectric
#12 I Found This Leaf With Only It's 'Veins' Remaining
Image credits: spechlfriedrice
#13 Well-Pet Ducks
Image credits: Chuudo
#14 I Went Into The Office For The First Time Since March 2020 And Found The Kiwi I Left In My Desk
Image credits: theskinwearein
#15 A Tree Trunk With A Silver Kennedy 1/2 Dollar Coin
Image credits: AirPotato
#16 My Grandmother Has Kept Her Elementary School Lunch Box In Nearly Pristine Condition For Over 70 Years
Image credits: HIGHly_intALEXual
#17 Shout Out To Lodge For Replacing My 14 Year Old Dutch Oven Because The Enamel Chipped. No Hassles, Just A Free Replacement In The Mail One Week After Contacting Them
Image credits: johnnybluejeans
#18 This Whiteboard Eraser Has Definitely Seen More Than Its Fair Share Of Use
Image credits: iammandalore
#19 My Nana Has Been Using The Same Deck Of Cards For 10 Years And They’ve All Grooved To Her Hand Placement During Shuffling
Image credits: RemarkableDifficulty
#20 Water Levels At Lake Powell Are So Low You Can Find Old Wrecks Out Of The Water
Image credits: mowikn
#21 My Teal Post-Its Turned Green While I Was Out Of The Office For 15 Months
Image credits: isntthatcorny
#22 One Of My Kids Left A Shoe Outside
Image credits: darthcobra08
#23 30 Years Ago, My Grandfather Encased This Meatball In Epoxy
Image credits: throbbing_banjo
#24 I Inherited My Grandma's Sewing Supplies And As I Was Putting Them Away Realized I Bought The Exact Same Buttons That She Did Over 35 Years Ago For Me
Image credits: Glitter_Plague
#25 Bathrooms At My Engineering University
Image credits: dustinburt
#26 My Parents Got This Spray Bottle Of Windex In 1979 And Have Been Reusing It Ever Since
Image credits: pandasweatshirt
#27 Old Gold/Copper Crayola Crayons That Turned Green From Oxidation
Image credits: HapEGoLucky
#28 My Hands After Washing The Dishes For 20 Minutes
Image credits: TheProjectAlexander
#29 This Tree Eating A Postbox
Image credits: nirkbirk
#30 Faded Sign From The "War On Drugs" Era
Image credits: FF7_Expert
#31 Exact Center Seat, 3rd Row From The Back Of The Theater Gets A Lot Of Use
Image credits: toddhenderson
#32 Found This At My Local Pharmacy
Image credits: owenthetechie
#33 The Rain Melted The Shells Off The Exposed M&M's I Found In A Parking Lot
Image credits: WhatHeSaidVO
#34 I Accidentally Left My Iron Man Canvas Out In The Rain And Inadvertently Improved The Original Design
Image credits: blakemon1
#35 Old 3ds Found With Erosion And Barnacles Found While Diving
Image credits: Dori_toes
#36 This Pumpkin Got Tossed In The Chicken Run Last November But Other Animals Ate The Insides, Leaving A Fairly Intact Shell
Image credits: Beelzabubba
#37 My Girlfriend Said You Guys Would Like This And I'm Not Sure Why
Image credits: ElderAtlas
#38 The Air Filter I Just Took Out Of My Lawnmower vs. The One I Replaced It With
Image credits: CourteousEnd785
#39 My Dad’s Tree Is Swallowing His Thermometer
Image credits: birdierosa
#40 My Neighbors Have An Old Chair With Plants Growing Over It
Image credits: JoeDragotta
#41 Nature Swallows A Car In Hawaii
Image credits: fish_and_crips
#42 The Counter At This Truck Stop
Image credits: ilikebreakfastcereal
#43 A Seesaw (Teeter-Totter) In My Local Playground Where Thousands Of Little Feet Have Worn Through The Asphalt
Image credits: swannykk
#44 A 39-Year-Old Fan Which Turns 40 Tomorrow
Image credits: MooseWithAntlers
#45 Basketball I Got 5 Years Ago vs. Basketball I Got Today
Image credits: Global-Elite-Spartan
#46 60-Year-Old Unopened Pepsi Bottle
Image credits: NoodleSoupShark5
#47 These Hand Prints In A Cave In Southern Utah
Image credits: waymanate
#48 Years Of A Lock Grinding On A Brick
Image credits: posty_co
#49 This Guy Dancing At The Same Place For Weeks
Image credits: Gymbrain
#50 Gorilla Nose And Nips
Image credits: awksaw
#51 This Radiator Underneath A Hand Dryer In A Pub In Northern England
Image credits: IntermolecularCrayon
#52 The Grooves Left By The Drop Rods On The Exit Gates Of The Carousel At The Henry Ford Museum
Image credits: Josh_Your_IT_Guy
#53 Three Years Ago I Hid A Golden Money Egg For An Easter Egg Hunt But The Egg Was Never Found... Until Now
Image credits: internetnobody23
#54 4months Of A Sleep Guard. Never Thought I Used To Grind My Teeth
Image credits: thishasmyfaceonit
#55 Found Some Change That Had Been In The Brushes In The Clothes Dryer
Image credits: mooseaura
#56 Wear Marks In The Floor Of A Repurposed Levi’s Denim Factory. Someone Spent Their Whole Life Working And Standing In This Spot. Lamy’s Building, Sedalia, MO
Image credits: rukeduke
#57 This Raw Hotdog Someone Stuck On My Vans Antenna Nearly 2 Years Ago Is Skinny But Still Going Strong
Image credits: StevenDonovan
#58 100-Year-Old Logging Truck, Abandoned And Overgrown By The Trees It Once Helped Cut Down (Lynn Valley, British Columbia, Canada)
Image credits: laowarriah
#59 The Spot Where Everyone Always Waits For The Elevator
Image credits: lbridgey
#60 This Tube Of Toothpaste Discolored Of Being By The Sun For Years
Image credits: deceased_rodent
#61 Old Ice Pack Sprung A Leak, Had To Get A New One
Image credits: tastessogood
#62 Progression Of A Broom At A Machine Shop
Image credits: heavens0devil
#63 This Brick Wall Got Smoothed Into A Rock
Image credits: schmart
#64 Years Of People Touching The Map At The "You Are Here" Spot
Image credits: thatsanicepeach
#65 Wear-And-Tear On Playground Monkeybars Decreases As The Distance Increases
Image credits: ReinaSparks
#66 7 Year Old Fast Food. Noticed At A Doctor's Office Today
Image credits: productiveslacker73
#67 New Yoda vs. 2-Years-Old Yoda
Image credits: ceilingfanfriend
#68 Does This Count? Highlighter After A Week Of Nonstop Studying
Image credits: oops_ana
#69 My Husband Bought Me A New Uno Deck To Replace My 20-Year-Old Deck
Image credits: Eka414
#70 This Is The Same Doll, One After 32 Years Of Love, The Other Still Pristine
Image credits: shanbamf
#71 You Nose Its Been Touched A Lot
Image credits: freshzealand
#72 My Old Skate Shoes vs. My Buddy's New Ones
Image credits: TenMan77
#73 The Difference Between Brand New Teeth And 800 Hours Of Digging
Image credits: TinyHomeGnome
#74 What UV Light Does To Wooden Floors When A Rug Is Placed In The Middle Of A Room
Image credits: llenorb
#75 The Sticker On My High School Hat I’ve Had For 10 Years Fell Off Showing The Original Color
Image credits: Toxic_Don
#76 The Wear Around Salon Seat
Image credits: hsshekhawat
#77 Climbing Brush, About 8 Years Of Use (Bottom) vs. No Use (Top)
Image credits: NMEMine
#78 We Found This Almost Identical Jacket Outside An Op Shop Today
Image credits: Hariato
#79 Great Grandmother's Potato Peeling Knife Still Used By My Grandmother In Her Late 80’s. She Says Her Mother Used It When She Was A Child
Image credits: FlabbyMilk
#80 This Sun-Worn Sign Outside My Office That Looks Like It Belongs In A Horror Film
Image credits: Prairie17
#81 My Friend’s Childhood Towel After 20 Years
Image credits: MyWholeLifelsThunder
#82 This Jigsaw Has Sat On My Coffee Table For So Long It Fused Into A Flexible Mat
Image credits: Cobalt-Red
#83 Dug Up A Very Old Orange Crush Can In My Garden Yesterday
Image credits: Klabble
#84 Boyfriend Bought Me A New Alpaca (Left) After I Slept With The Old One (Right) Every Night For 6 Years
Image credits: ummameme
#85 Penny That Was Stuck In My Washer For Years
Image credits: DarkStarStorm
#86 The Patch On My Jeans Came Off Revealing Its Original Color
Image credits: unupvotable
#87 I Think It Was About Time For New Tires On My RC Car
Image credits: DoctorWhoniverse
#88 Finally Got A New Pair Of Work Gloves. 2 Year Gap
Image credits: lordofracoons
#89 Finally Got Around To Replacing The Casters On My 1950s Wooden Bankers Chair
Image credits: ApostateLibrarian
#90 Manhole Cover, New vs. Old
Image credits: jabask
#91 This Box Of Crayons At The Corner Gas Station Lost Most Of Its Color
Image credits: Dmxmd
#92 New vs. 3-Year-Old Cat Scratching Post
Image credits: Blackdomino
#93 Brand New Stored In Closet vs. 25 Years Of Use
Image credits: ground_wallnut
#94 Well Worn Wooden Bench
Image credits: illshowyouruin
#95 This Diary Full Of Stickers/Papers My Boyfriend And I Collected Since May 2020
Image credits: darkoofsbeve
#96 This Death Trap My Wife Calls An Oven Mitt
Image credits: Toriganator
#97 Some More Well Worn Brakes
Image credits: unxle
#98 Here's The Patina On A Knife I Made A Year Ago
Image credits: gari109
#99 The New And Old Pallet Jacks At My Work
Image credits: pchayes
#100 Plastic Keyboard Cover At Work. I Work At A Dentist's Practice In Germany. Tooth = Zahn, Hence The Z
Image credits: lonski97
#101 IKEA Dish Soap Dispenser Tip
Image credits: andorand_too
#102 My 10 Year Old Rubik's vs. One That Just Arrived
Image credits: someonewithpc
#103 My Laptop Keyboard Protectors, 6 Years Apart
Image credits: doucesquisse
#104 The Sun Has Bleached The Corner Of The Carpet In This Shop Window Over Time
Image credits: MortChateau
#105 Before And After 18 Months Of Covid Lockdowns
Image credits: wiggienengit
#106 Handrail In A Stairwell At Work
Image credits: House_Tricky
#107 Gentlemen
Image credits: blancats
#108 The Cracks In My Screen Protector
Image credits: nmp448
#109 Old Air Purifier Hepa Filter On The Left vs. Brand New One On The Right
Image credits: Aussieboy111
#110 I Found An Old Candy Dispenser With Melted Skittles
Image credits: bornonce
#111 Greasy Head Stains In Doctors Waiting Room
Image credits: rickuk88
#112 Old vs. New Leather Phone Case
Image credits: connorkmiec93
#113 I Have An Old Basketball In My Backyard That Has The Space Jam Logo On It
Image credits: reddit.com