How Time Flies

Written in 1997 at age 53

 

The summer went by so quickly.  The Halloween decorations have been in the stores since August and by now, we know the holiday season is approaching.  What happened?  Where did the time go?

 

I remember thinking many years ago that I couldn’t wait to be 21.  And now our youngest child is 22 herself, and I can’t help but wonder where those years went.

 

How I perceive the world is quite different now that I’m looking at the world through 53-year-old eyes and five-year-old bifocals.  At times, I wish my arms were just a little bit longer as I try to find a number in the phone book.  I choose where I shop very carefully – if the music in the store is hard-rock metal, I’ll turn around and leave.  I like the movie theaters that have soft, classical music soothing me before the show starts.  If the theater tries to entertain me with the local radio station blaring its “Top 10 hits from the ‘90’s,” I go out to the lobby until it’s show time!  Seems like I just don’t have any tolerance anymore.  I wouldn’t be getting “old” – could I?

 

Yet, I know I’m getting older when I visit my dentist and search his face for the telltale signs of shaving.  I also know I’m older when I tell the innocent-looking computer technician at work about the good ol’ days before electric typewriters, computers and fax machines.  My children tease me when I sing along to the “oldies, but goodies,” reminisce about Howdy Doody and the Mickey Mouse Club, and can recite in detail what I was doing the moment I heard of the assassination of President Kennedy.

 

Commercials featuring plaque toothpaste, hair color and calcium for aging bones are likely to hold my attention now.  As I stand before the mirror every morning, pulling out the newest gray hair, I notice the crow’s feet around my eyes and the permanent wrinkles on my forehead.  I look down further and wonder why my mother’s hands are now sticking out of my sleeves!

 

My 20’s and 30’s were spent raising a family and continuing my career.  My 40’s were spent going back to college and finally completing my B.A.  My husband, Norm, took early retirement as I entered my 50’s, and we are learning to be empty nesters.  Each decade had its trials and rewards.  Although I’m not a grandparent yet, I know from our friends who are that this is the best time of your life.  Grandparents can spoil the children and then send them home when their patience has grown thin!

 

Norm and I have also discovered that being a couple once again is great!  Our food bill at home is lower – although our “eating out” bills are higher.  We can dust and vacuum the living room on Saturday, and it pretty much looks the same a week later.  The kids come over and cut the grass or shovel the sidewalk without our asking (of course, we have to feed them).  We travel a lot more now and are scouting out different areas for a place to stay in the winter!

 

I don’t wish to be a certain age anymore.  Yes, the seasons and the years are slipping by very quickly and while I’ll never see 21 (or 51) again, I have great memories of those years and am looking forward to having even more fun in the years ahead!