Thursday, September 20, 2018

one moment at a time

 Fall is upon us once again. Already I see a hint of color in the treeline. Corn fields have been cut and the land is bare once again. School buses cause delays on the morning commute. I noticed the fall grass with the last mowing. Just a few more times for that this year, and I'll be grateful that chore is done. Soccer is in full swing at the high school. It is the last season for my grandson, as he is a senior this year. It's the only sport he plays and so with the end of soccer season, so too, his soccer career. I don't expect he'll play in college. These are all markers, markers of time and time is relentless.
 My own birthday is in July but the majority of my family members celebrate theirs in September. September has always been filled with birthday cake and celebrations, My Dad, my mom, my two brothers, their spouses and some of their respective children, all in September. I discovered that the 16th of September is the most common day for a birthday in the United States. An interesting bit of trivia. September always meant back to school as a child and that trend continued all the way to the grand kids. It became a time for backpacks but this year I hear backpacks are banned at the high school. A sign of the times I suppose. The elastic straps I used to hold my books were banned, labeled as dangerous weapons and now the backpack. No telling what a kid might be hiding in there! And time moves ever forward.
 How many more years can we expect public schools to operate? My grandson believes it is an institution that will one day be gone. They will be replaced by charter schools or something similar. I can see that as the public schools are getting too large and too difficult to manage. The public school system worked well but I agree with my grandson, its' time is limited. There are already schools that operate year round and graduate their students in three years instead of the traditional four. Faster, we must go ever faster in a futile attempt to catch up with time. Man has always done so, and it continues.
 Maybe it because I turned 65 this year. Maybe its' because I have a brother that just celebrated his 69th birthday. And oh, Mom was 89 on that most popular of dates for a birthday, the 16th of September. Maybe it is because I heard the honking of a goose far off and distinct but heading my way. Maybe it is the realization that my sister in law passed over a year ago and I just heard an old neighbor of mine passed last Friday. All measurements and markers in a lifetime. My lifetime! I don't know how long that will be, I don't know how long any of this will be, but I know that time goes on. The changing of the seasons always bring these thoughts to me. The spring brings excitement and hope, the summer arrives as a relief and fall as a return. And winter, winter is a quiet time of cold and wind. Winter is solitude and reflection. Winter is the end. And yet, there will always be a spring, a new beginning, and for that reason we should celebrate. Celebrate the harvest! Time moves ever forward and is relentless. Enjoy every moment, every milestone, every attraction along the way. Times goes on forever. And I wonder where we will go. I've decided we go to join those that have gone before, and time goes on, just as it always has. Relax, enjoy the changing landscape, the changes in the sky. Take comfort in time, time is forever with you. You can't go back in time or jump ahead. Time is now, right this very moment. You can't lose it, spend it or waste it. All you can do is live in it, one moment at a time.          

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