Thoughts…

I often wondered if I’d make it to 30…

Author unknown, but came over the Mil Email transom.

It seems just yesterday that I was young and embarking on my new life. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.
I know that I lived them all.
I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.
However, here it is …… the last quarter of my life and it catches me by surprise.
How did I get here so fast?
Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that I was only on the first quarter and that the fourth quarter was so far off that I could not visualise it or imagine fully what it would be like.
Yet, here it is …… my friends are retired and getting grey – they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me but I see the great change. They’re not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant …… but like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we’d become.
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! and taking a nap is not a treat anymore, it’s mandatory! because if I don’t of my own free will, I fall asleep where I sit!
And so …… now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did! But at least I know that, though I’m on the last quarter and I’m not sure how long it will last, that when it’s over on this earth… it’s over.
A new adventure will begin!
Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn’t done …… things I should have done but truely there are many things I’m happy to have done.
It’s all in a lifetime.
So, if you’re not on the last quarter yet, let me remind you that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life do it quickly!
Don’t put things off too long! Life goes by so quickly.
So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether you’re on the last quarter or not!
You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of life…. so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember – and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!
‘Life’ is a gift to you.
Be Happy!
Have a great day!
Remember, it is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
You may think;
Going out is good – but coming home is better!
You forget names – but it’s okay because some people forgot they even knew you!
You realize you’re never going to be really good at anything like golf – but you like the outdoors!
The things you used to care to do, you aren’t as interested in anymore – but you really don’t care that you aren’t as interested.
You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV on than in bed – you call it ‘pre-sleep’!
You miss the days when everything worked with just an ‘On’ and ‘Off’ switch!
You tend to use more 4 letter words – ‘what’ and ‘when’
You have lots of clothes in your wardrobe, more than half of which you will never wear – but just in case!

Enjoy the time you have, make the best of it!!!

Comments

Thoughts… — 14 Comments

  1. Truer words never spoken. And all of the ‘seasoned citizens’ all have the same condition. Rolling out of bed causes body parts to complain (Just five more minutes Ma !). More than once have I risen to my feet and have to steady myself before I can stand erect. Putting on my socks alone can take over a minute and requires I lean up against the wall or other nearby object. I still have most of my hair, but notice I am washing more face and less hair every month. Oh well – less to cut and comb …

  2. Sigh. That’s all true and dammit, you kids got off my lawn!

  3. Along the same sort of line of thinking…

    This morning I was perusing the IT news and read a comment by someone that started with, “Around the turn of the century, I was involved in a system upgrade.”

    And I had that “Wait, what? Oh… right.” moment.

    • In the patent world, I love how Herman Hollerith, the inventor of the computer punch card, had a number of his patent applications blocked by prior art (what?) Yup – the earlier work of Joseph-Marie Jaquard in 1801-1805 punched cards linked and looped into a belt that was passed over an array of pins to raise and lower the warp threads between each throw of the headle in a loom was an earlier example of “stored digital information.”

  4. My dad used to say the last third of life is payoff for the BS of the first 2/3. Now in my 70th year i agree. I’ve lost count of the people I’ve known that didn’t make it to 70. I flew in the civilian world for 40 years and a good chunk of that time was forest fire suppression. People get hurt in that line of work but it never makes the news. It attracts some interesting people. One guy I worked with flew the CL215 into his mid 70s. No boosted controls on that machine and after a 3-4 hour flight you could be tired especially if it was the 2nd or 3rd of the day. Tough, very fit guy. He’s an aviation artist now. Still plays tennis at 90. He definitely, in addition to looking after himself, won the gene pool. Others developed cancer and checked out early. Whether it was from all the sh!t we sere breathing or simply bad luck, who knows. I’ve been retired come this spring 7 years and I enjoy just about every day with the exception I don’t care much for winter these days. When I check out, right behind my wife and my cat what I will miss most I think is music. Retirement gave me time to really get into listening and I’ve spent maybe more money than I should have on good equipment. Making it to retirement and beyond gave me time to develop this love. Retirement is good, as is the last third of life.

  5. Should have added above in 1st post –

    If you have plans that require physical labor to get done, do that 1st. Because when you wait years until you are ready to do it, your body will protest something fierce. Now you are stuck half way with undone project. Nephews and grandkids are good candidates for helping with that kind of work.

  6. Fred Colvin (1867-1965) was one of the founding editors of the “American Machinist’s Handbook,” a McGraw-Hill competitor to the “Machinery’s Handbook.” He wrote a wonderful autobiography called “Sixty Years with Men and Machines,” starting from his days as shop hand in his teens running and maintaining steam and leather belt powered machinery by the light of a fat lamp. His sixty years covered 1885-1945, and he was in his 70s when World War II started and came out of retirement in order to help with the war production effort. It boggles the mind to imagine the changes that that man saw. Here is the last page of his book (1947.) He was EIGHTY, still sharp, and STILL GOING:

    “And so we come to the end of the story. As I bring this book to a
    close, however, I am gratified to receive notice of my appointment
    as a consultant at the Clinton Laboratories at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where I shall work on one of the many mechanical phases of the atomic power pile project. It is good to learn in this way that the passing years have not rendered me entirely incapable of further service on engineering problems. It is particularly interesting, also, that in my eightieth year, I shall be privileged to assist in the development of the most advanced type of power technology – a field that will occupy much of the attention of future generations of engineers and scientists.
    “It is a far cry from the old shop at 211 Race Street in Philadelphia to the vast atomic energy plant at Oak Ridge, and I have greatly enjoyed writing down the experiences and the observations of that hectic interval of industrial progress. I hope the reader has enjoyed it as much as I have.”

  7. John- Yep! And a ‘goal’ was to make it that far!

    David- Excellent points. “We” have no control of our genes or our time here.

    jrg- Or just pay the man… LOL

    Guy- That was one helluva history he saw and wrote about.

  8. Old-Age is not for sissies. I keep telling myself that I’d better harden up.
    Fifty-eight (how the hell did that happen?) and no plans to retire.
    One of my Uncles was doing chores on the farm the day before they carted him off to hospital, to die, at 95. One of my Aunts was only removed from her home on the farm after she broke a hip – which they only found out after she complained that she was having trouble standing, at 97.

    So yeah, I’ll have to change how stuff gets done in the meantime, but I plan to die on the farm. Nowhere else I want to be, and I may as well be useful.

    Keep in mind. Funerals are expensive and a PITA. Put them off as long as possible. You executors will appreciate the courtesy.