Thursday, October 27, 2011

ROBBLOG #332 W E E K E N D Edition



I don’t know what’s up these days. 

I am feeling…anxious- or something.
About what?
Who knows?
What am I a self-diagnosing psychiatrist?
Not likely.
I only help and judge others- not me. 

Maybe it’s just that I find days are moving along so quickly.
Hell!
Days are moving along downright fast! 

Hallowe’en is coming on Monday.
Of course Hallowe’en used to be followed by a few weeks of nothing but bare trees, early snow and cool temps- did I mention all the miserably dull and dark days?
No?
Well that’s November- usually, in a nutshell.
However, these days the Holiday Season is smack dab up against Hallowe’en- and is even sharing store shelves with Christmas- even Thanksgiving.
Cripes, if you don’t buy your Hallowe’en stuff in August, all that’s left this weekend is- the pickings! 

But the way I am feeling these days is more than just Hallowe’en bumping up against Christmas and Christmas against New Years and then Valentines against Easter. It’s just that a lot of folks seem to be feeling the same way.Time is moving along too fast and there’s nothing we can do to stop it! 

One day you’re carrying your boyfriends’ books home from school, next day you’re feeling all weird and anxious. I just think it’s the times we live in- or at least the “time” I live in. When you get to a certain age ~ahem~ something begins to change within you. I keep thinking the “time-frame” is relatively small.
Look.
I’m not 30 anymore looking smugly ahead to another 40 or 50 years of a good life. No, I am looking straight in the face of a lot less.
A hell of a lot less! 

On the positive side, I’m reading that for us boomers it will be different. We just have a different mindset than our parents and grandparents.Clearly their lives were finished at 50.
By that I mean they were expected to sit and rock in a chair with every button on their sweater done up- right to the top in case they were to catch a chill. I am sure my Grandmother Lillian Reid was young at some point. I know she was because I’ve seen pictures but I bet by age 50 she was all grandmotherly. My Grandmother was in her 60’s by the time I have any memories of her. 

Look, I’m just saying that I seem to be thinking a lot more about my eventual demise than I did before that blasted milestone birthday I celebrated back in July. I’m not being morbid about it. I’m being realistic about it. 

Say I was getting my roof re-shingled and the roofing guy tells me the new roof will last me 30 to 35 years.
Do I care?
I’ll be 90.

 I just bought myself a new bicycle- A Raleigh “Campus” bike a month ago. My last bike serviced me for 26 years. So if I ride this Raleigh for 26 years I’ll be 86. 

You see what I mean?
Numbers just seem to be more of a concern. 

What if I were to get a mortgage from the bank? They have 40 year mortgages- don’t they? Let just say they do. That means I would be 100 when it’s paid off.
Yikes!
That’s putting it all in perspective.

 So I am feeling a bit anxious these days.

I don’t want to spend my life cleaning house for hours every week when I could be doing things I may not be able to do 10 or 20 years from now.
I don’t want to rake leaves or cut grass or clean out the garage any more.
Been there. Done that.
I don’t want to be missing shows and events today that I may never have the chance to take in again- for whatever reason. I want to do new, exciting things that I will remember joyfully years from now when I’m sitting up there on a cloud playing my harp, looking gently down at the green earth below. 

I read a book recently that a friend gave me for my 60th Birthday. It was 60 Things to Do- or at least think about, when you turn 60.
I read it.
Some chapters were humorous.
Some not so much.  

Overall, it was depressing. I wonder if this same author is writing a book called 70 things to Do When You’re Seventy- if you’re lucky! 

Then one more volume- 80 things to Do When You’re Eighty! Better make that “10 Things to Do When You’re Eighty”.

There just might not be enough time for 80!