”Time kept passing without my consent.”
At first I thought I was dreaming. When I woke up, I could see sun and blue sky through my bedroom window. The day looked early so I figured I’d fall back to sleep. I didn’t because the dogs heard a noise outside, jumped off the bed and barked as they ran downstairs. I followed but without the barking. It was the landscaper doing my neighbor’s yard. He did mine yesterday. The dogs had heard his truck. I put a pot of coffee on, grabbed my paper and officially started my day.
My dance card is empty this week, not even uke. Our fearless leader is sick. We were going to start The Beatles, but that will have to wait. I do have a couple of errands so I’m going to go out and enjoy the day.
My outsides belie my insides. I feel the same way now as I did when I was young, but when I look in the mirror, I see a wrinkled face and lots of grey hair. My classmates are starting to plan our 60th high school reunion. My youngest sister will be 70 this year. It was 55 years ago when I started Peace Corps training. Life passes so quickly.
When I was a kid, I never gave time much thought. I did count days to special events, especially to Christmas and my birthday, but the rest of time just kept moving along without me paying a whole lot of attention. I’m there again. Some mornings when I wake up, I ask Alexa what day of the week it is as I had lost track. Sometimes I’m surprised.
When I was in Africa, a pompous man named Mr. Edwards was the local head of education. He sometimes spoke at my school. In each speech he always said, “Time and tide wait for no man.”
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May 21, 2024 at 4:10 pm
Hi Kat,
My class ended earlier than I thought and my compadre and I are going downtown to have dinner along the river and check things out. The sky here in Savanah is mostly clear with a high temperature of 80°.
Like you, I feel fairly good, but the face that stares me back in the mirror in the morning doesn’t jive with the way I feel. Some days are better than others. Your Mr. Edwards was correct about time and I assume he knew more about tides than I know. :-). Unfortunately, youth is waisted on the young. When you are in your teens and twenties we feel immortal. Sadly we are not.
In the last couple of years several of my colleagues have left this earth. Two of them passed in the last year amd both were my friends, and they were younger than I am by a few years.
May 21, 2024 at 6:10 pm
Hi Bob,
I’m glad you get some time to see the city. I hope you saw all the amazing houses. Dinner along the river sounds fun!
Mr. Edwards probably knew nothing about the tide. I lived in the driest part of the country, a long way from the capital and the coast. Back then most Ghanaians didn’t travel far.
My two best friends moved to Florida close to three years ago. They used to say it would the last place they’d go as all of our neighbors who went there died. God’s waiting room is what we called it. My friend Tony died on Thanksgiving. His wife Clare died in April. I knew she wouldn’t last long without him. They were a year older than us. I miss them dearly.