No Loss for Words

As 2011 comes to an end I can’t help but look back and wonder where it went.  It seems like just last month that we started the year anew, and like last week that football season started.  And yet, both are about over with neither ending particularly well.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the older you get, the faster time (seems to) passes.  I know, science taught me that all days are about twenty four hours in length, but the hours of daylight and dark change every day so we often characterize the days as getting longer or shorter as the seasons change.  Similarly, my older friends (and I) think the days just fly by while my grand sons complain about how time drags.

Since I am only 61, going on 62, I’ve got to wonder what it’s like for someone in their eighties.  Just visualize the hands on our life clock spinning faster and faster.  Finally, out of control, then exploding at the end with springs and gears spread around the room like shrapnel.  Time runs out and another old guy bites the dust.

It was four years ago today that my old dad’s time ran out.  It doesn’t feel like four years have passed but the calendar says otherwise.  It’s not that I dwell on it because I don’t.  He lived a great life and if you can have a good death, he did.  Right up to a couple days prior to his passing, he was alert and interacting with family and friends.  He was eighty-two years old; how could anyone complain about that?  I think about him often.

As January approaches I look forward to a new beginning like my old dad looked for new life in his flower beds.  Not that he ever planted one himself since he was not a gardener like others in the family. But, he was so optimistic every January because in spite of last year’s hardships new life popped up in the new year.  He really believed the new year signaled a rebirth with unlimited possibilities.

So, I’m looking for the crocuses in the garden pushing their way up through often frozen dirt symbolizing the positive outlook of a new year; bursting forth in all their glory announcing to everyone “it’s great to be alive!”  I’ll drink to that!  Here’s to a much better 2012!