Today is my 53rd birthday!
Really!? Really!?
How could that be possible? How could five decades pass and me not even realize? How could I have gone through childhood, adulthood, parenthood, grandparenthood! And not notice that time was passing so quickly?
Fifty-three years…hmm.
Wasn’t it just a few years ago that I was a fat little roly-poly waddling down the sidewalk? Fortunately, this memory was recorded for me on a movie reel (Anyone remember those?).
And hasn’t it been just a short time ago that we were going on family camping trips? It’s not been so long ago, in my recollection, that our cousins would come to visit and we would play hide and seek in the dark (another game my children think they created).
I’m sure it was just a few summers back that we had family and friends over to swim, played tag in the cemetery, enjoyed spending summer vacations with grandparents and cousins, or rode our Shetland ponies (although I can’t remember if they were ours or Grandpa George’s).
Oh…some of the memories flood back as I write this, and for those who read this and shared some of the experiences, you will recall things like: Alley Springs, walking to the movies, the bowling alley, steal-the-flag, our old red dog, Butch, and hasn’t everyone had a dog named Blackie? There were carnival rides, basketball games, drive-in movies, cheerleader tryouts (didn’t make it), snowball fights, and long trips to Winona. Rock collections, bug collections, catching lightening bugs in the summer. Oh! and tying strings around the legs of a June bug and hanging on to it while it flew around.
As a teen I remember getting a curling iron and trying to curl wet hair. Does anyone remember Psst! I think that’s what it was. You sprayed it on your hair if you didn’t have time to wash it. It was like powder on your hair (eek!) Long hair, ponytails, and bell-bottoms.
And wasn’t it just yesterday that The Farmer and I were married, and experiencing the trials and triumphs that come with a new family? Well, the reality of having children grown and married and having children of their own brings me back to the possibility that maybe more time has passed than I have realized.
Although the calendar records that I have had approximately 19,345 days on the earth, I still can’t believe it, because they have passed by all too quickly.
And looking at the clock I see that even more time has passed, so I’m going to end this walk down memory lane before another birthday passes me by completely.
