It may not mean anything to you but
it's a way to look into the past in the universe without a physical time machine.
Without a time reference it would be like how UA had misplaced that unoccompanied child. She was misplaced. Done. Nothing about how long she waited, how many connecting flights were missed or how many days she went without her toothbrush, clean clothes, etc.
Here's something to wrap your head around. In a billion or so years Earth will be burnt to a crisp as our Sun enters its red giant phase. Eventually Earth will become part of the Sun as will Mecury and Venus. Until then carry on.