Where Does The Time Go?

Time keeps on slipping…into the futrure”  –Steve Miller, 1976

I have nothing to say about sports.  What can I say?  It’s that time of year.  Oh sure, I could talk about Syracuse’s collapse recently, or go into my thoughts on who the Buffalo Bills should target in free agency, or the Knicks total ineptitude.  Really though, none of that is very interesting, and most of it is pretty obvious.  So, this column  will not be about sports.

I feel like just ruminating about….getting older.

Time is an interesting thing.  We try to make time for things.  We run out of time.  We never seem to have enough time.  We work overtime.  We time ourselves.  We take time for special events.  We call a time out for our kids.  We sometimes need time alone.  We need more time for friends and loved ones.  We take time to reflect.  Now, it’s time to continue…

All the time, we are getting older.  We are born, and then most of us don’t have any memories until around the age of five.  From the time we go to school to the time we move away from college, it seems like it takes forever when you are in that time frame, but then when you get to be 40, you realize that 12 years went by so fast.  College is a blur, then you enter the workforce.  Before you know it, you are into your 30’s.  Often, a wife and kids follows sometime in there, and you hit your 40’s.  

I am hitting 48 years old this coming May.  I say that, look at it in print, and shake my head.  It is almost hard to believe.  It seems like just yesterday that I was graduating from high school and then college.  What the hell happened?

Time also plays funny tricks on you.  Perceptions change wildly.  For example, I remember watching “All In the Family” when I was a kid.  At the time, I thought Caroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, who played Archie and Edith Bunker of course, were so old.  It seemed like that were in their 50’s or 60’s–far into middle age.  Now you look back and realize that O’Connor was 45 years old and Stapleton 46 when the show premiered in 1971.  They were both younger than I am now!

Same thing goes for that show “Match Game”.  Remember that panel game show?  My wife and I have lately taken to DVR’ing that show every day on the Game Show Network.  We both fondly remember watching it when we were young children.  At the time, Richard Dawson, Brett Somers and Gene Rayburn seemed so old.  They were in their early 40’s.  Fannie Flag looked spinster-ish.  Now we find out she was in her mid 30’s.  It’s crazy!

Same thing goes for the reverse.  Now that I am on the wrong side of 40, every time I see high school kids in the mall or if I go to a high school basketball game or something, they all seem like they are 12.  16 and 17 year olds never looked that young when I was that age!

Time is good to some of us, and not good for others.  My friend Scott looks the same as he did when he was 30.  Full head of hair, and in good shape.  Our high school prom queen still looks like she could be a model.  Me?  Well, I am starting to look like Wilfred Brimley, hawking grape nuts.  The hairline has disappeared, and most of my hair is gone.  Speaking of hair and how it’s not on my head, I do have it growing out of many orifaces that you would think hair is not supposed to grow out of.  My cheeks look like I am hiding a couple of walnuts, and as far as shape goes…well, “pear” is a shape, right?

It sucks, and it’s not fair.  Time should treat everyone equally, but it doesn’t.  The one thing that is consistent, is that none of us will be here forever.  As William Shakespeare said, “We are all just food for worms”.  I’m sorry to be so somber, but what can I say–my mood must be reflected by the weather.  It’s just how I have been feeling lately.

The funny thing about our lifetimes is that in the big picture of things, we are just a blip on history’s radar.  This world we live in has been spinning for thousands of years and will probably be spinning for thousands more.  Our 70-80 or so years that we spend on the planet amounts to such a short, short time.

What is my point of this overly depressing column?  Well, I guess it is just to remind you of all that life has to offer, and how we need to slow down and enjoy it.  Losing my job of 20+ years last summer, 

and starting a new career in a consulting business and freelance writer has given me new perspective.  I am working out, eating better and losing some pounds.  I am trying to live better, love harder and smell the roses more along the way.

Time is continuing to fly by, and I am going to do all I can to enjoy all it has to offer, especially before my sight fades away.

It would be nice if you would join me.   I’d like to have some company in the old folks home in a few years.  It’ll be here before we know it.