a home for the past

  Are things going too fast, or is it that they are just behind me? It's a question I find myself asking more frequently these days. The kids are all grown, the grandkids are grown and a great grandchild is on the way. As I remember all the events, all the occasions, all the ups and downs over the years I do marvel at the speed of it all. I know it is something people talk about all the time. My parents did, my grandparents did and I'm certain mankind always has. I've always heard about the promise of tomorrow, but never exactly what that promise is. I've heard a great deal about what it is hoped to be, what others believe it to be, but no one has ever returned to confirm any of that. There are no citations for that! I do believe that this life isn't the end, that our soul, our essence, our energy, will continue either in part, or in whole. Perhaps that occurs with what we leave behind.

  It may sound a bit silly. As I mentioned yesterday my son just purchased a new home. He has moved from being a few blocks away, to a few miles away. With that move I got a feeling that the wife and I are here alone in Greensboro. That's strange because my son's new home is still technically in Greensboro. Still, I can't walk over to his house now, it's too far away and there is no sidewalk for that anyway. My other son has been living in upstate New York for twenty years now and I seldom see him. Holidays and an occasional, just wanted to see you trip. The grandkids are living their lives. Mark is married and expecting that baby in January. Morgan lives in Cambridge, a good thirty miles away. All of this has changed our lives, it all happened really fast. 

  The strange thing about all of that is this; the older we get, the closer to the future we get, the more the past rushes at us. It is the past that creates that speed, not the forward motion. In some sort of trick of physics, an Einstein type theorem, the relevancy of time is distorted. What that old time religion  described as the circle of life. All areas of the wheel are turning at the same speed yet do not cover the same distance, the periphery traveling the farthest. Life is that way. We all travel at the same speed yet do not cover the same distance. But we realize that the distance is finite, we will reach the end. And like a roll of toilet paper the last few squares go quickly, sometimes causing anxiety. 

  This afternoon I'm going to a baby shower. Yes, it is for my granddaughter Bailey. Well, granddaughter in law is the official title. Yes, I'm going, although back in my day men didn't attend such things but it is a brave new world. I'm nothing if not flexible and progressive. I can change with the times. A great deal of the traditional ways are being ignored, cast aside and replaced. Reveal parties, public breast feeding and having your children on a leash are all common enough these days. Children addressing their parents by their first names, informing their parents and teachers of their preferred pronouns are more examples of this. Gift registries e-mailed and an accounting taken. Yes, things have changed. But life continues on, ever forward, trying to outrun the past until the beginning is reached. A great grandchild, a new beginning, and a time of hope. Hope for the future, and a home for the past.  

                                                                               

                                    Now, that's old school