Do Your Days drag?

 

But the Years Go by Like the Snap of Your Fingers?

I’m usually comfortable with my age. I joke with others saying, from the neck down I’m retirement age but, “from here up”, pointing to my head, “I’m 23”. It’s an attitude that keeps me upbeat, happy and ready to continue enjoying life.

However, I recently had some cold water figuratively thrown over me. Going through my daily ritual of reading the newspaper (Yes. Really. The newspaper.) I came across the column of celebrity birthdays. Usually, it’s no big deal because the people I recognize are mostly in my generation. They look like I’ve always remembered them (probably because their pictures haven’t been updated for 30 years).

That day though, was somewhat of a shock. The night before, I was watching “Home Alone”, one of my favorite holiday movies.

The star is Macaulay Culkin. He plays the role of Kevin McCallister, the young boy left behind when his family goes on a trip to Europe.

l always pictured him as that 8-year old kid.

I swallowed hard when I read on that day, he was celebrating his 45^th birthday!

No one can age 37 years since last Christmas….can they?

On the other hand, how about those times when you want to hurry but everyone else taking their time?

Like when you show up early for a 3:00 doctor appointment and at 3:45 there is still no sign of the doctor.

Getting seated at a restaurant when you go out for dinner and then get totally forgotten by the waitstaff.

Waiting for your wife to decide which sweater goes best  with her slacks.

How about waiting at Costco, standing behind a line of people who have enough in their shopping carts to stock up a summer home for the season?

So, why is it when you have something you WANT to do, time never cooperates?

But then, something comes along, like Home Alone, and triggers the realization that decades have gone past almost unnoticed.

For example, I was recently going through an old jewelry box. I came across my draft card. I thought back. It was issued before the war in Vietnam broke out. By the time it became a real war I was married, had two children (and was working three jobs). And now, decades later, Vietnam is one of our country’s largest trading partners.

Or, this past September, when I was watching a rerun of the 9/11 horrors. I remembered that just a couple of weeks before that happened, my wife and I were in Hawaii celebrating our 35^th wedding anniversary. Any later, with airlines being grounded for several days, we might have been stuck there (under the circumstances, not the worst thing).

 

Soon though, we’ll be celebrating 60 fantastic  years together.

Nowadays, I’m contemplating my children approaching their retirement, grandchildren getting married and hoping that I can soon move from being Grandpa to Great Grandpa.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that each and every day is precious. Use it as best you can, to make it memorable. On New Year’s Eve, don’t look back and say “I wish I would have”. Instead, enjoy the satisfaction that comes with saying “I’m glad I did”.