My years are like roller coasters. I always have something planned to look forward to, slowly climbing a calendar day by day. Finally reaching the date is immediately followed by the accelerating rush toward a goal, hence the metaphor.
Generally our goals are little trips of some sort. I like years punctuated with exclamation points. It’s nice when the excitement is spaced sort of evenly, but recently most of our fun adventures have been back-loaded into the first six months.
Because my work involves very long hours during the four-month tax season, by the time April 15th rolls around I’m more than ready to throw hands in the air and not look back. The first half of this year was a kaleidoscope. I worked through April; we cruised in May, did Vegas in June and fished with Bug, Shingo and Sundae in July. Whew!
So now I’m ambling through September mapping out future high points and when we’ll hit them. These final four months of the year are looking pretty good.
My sons have been on me to come down to Florida for a poker tournament in Tampa. I’ve always had excuses that seemed valid at the time but have now used them all up.
So it looks like my roller coaster will be flinging me south. Tampa has a good tournament scheduled toward the end of October so I’m going to try to make it. More important than the poker, I’ll get to see Bret and Bart, which is always a total hoot.
And there’s another boon in our future before 2013 waves goodbye. Sundae and company normally come home each Christmas for a few days. But this year they’ll be able to stay a couple of weeks and that’s indeed a very good thing.
Being brutally honest, it’s really all about Bug, who will definitely make this season special. Ann is already making plans and marking calendars. If Sundae and Shingo have any scheduling objections, that’s too bad.
Five-year-old Andrew has clear personal priorities. I’m sure Chuck E Cheese will figure prominently in his itinerary as will the Mike’s Farm hayride.
Having such a great ride in 2013 and into the future is a big deal to me. I’ve said many times I don’t like time flying by without grabbing some rings.
We’ve all heard, “Where’d the years go?” I won’t allow mine to coalesce into indistinguishable and uninteresting lumps because I was too clueless to make each year special while I was living through it.
Ann and I have both been very blessed with good health and a shared recognition that all special times should be treasured from major vacations down to simple leisurely glasses of wine on a patio.
We all circle nature’s hourglass. Shoes always drop, and things always change. So I say worry little about the future and more about celebrating the present.
It’s a great world and I’m enjoying the ride. Life is good and recognizing unique values of the countless moments that comprise it increases it exponentially.
Otis Gardner’s column appears here weekly. He can be reached at ogardner@embarqmail.com.