As a tween, an almost adolescent, I didn’t really understand what sexy was. All I knew was that Elvis Presley made me feel differently. For some reason, I wanted to kiss him and my eyes were glued to his body when he performed. Once I fully understood what sexy was, Elvis was gone, never to return. Left to seek out other sexy avenues I stumbled upon, David Cassidy, John Travolta, Tony Defranco, Davy Jones, and the super cute guy down my street.
I declare, my nest is not empty! Actually, it’s just a different kind of nest of what it used to be. Now, I don’t have young children running around who constantly need tending to.
I paid my dues and did the hard work to raise those crazy kids. So, I’ve earned this P & Q Nest, (peace & quiet).
Empty? NO!
Quieter? YES
All I know is this is happening to me and, once again, I feel like the 11 year old girl not understanding these changes. That’s right; I’m constantly changing in the strangest of ways. I think I’m going back to having a pre-puberty boy’s body.
STOP!!! Put on the Brakes! I’ve got to do something to slow this down and fast! I’ve got to get a handle of this or I’m going to run out of time. I’m realizing that time is very precious and why did it take me so long to figure this out? Why?
Suddenly, I heard the loud horn sound which announced the start of the relay race. I got so excited to receive the baton, but it was going to take quite a while until it got to me. It had to pass through around 100 hands. I waited with the Green team’s fastest girl. I didn’t talk to her even though she was my bunkmate. I knew I was going to beat her. I was thinking of all the things I was going to say to her when I ran passed her. I was reciting these lines in my head, “See ya later baby! Bye Bye Birdie! Catch ya later! Smell my wind! Eat my dust!”
Most of my time is fleeting. I don’t know why this is so. It’s noon and suddenly it’s 4 p.m. The passage of those 4 hours doesn’t add up. It’s Monday and then without much notice, it’s Friday. The seasons roll like that and the years too. I’m very aware of this quick passage of time. Although, when I was younger, I felt the passage of time was much slower. Sitting in a classroom watching the clock hands finally reach 3:15 p.m., was endless. However, the run out of school into the park with my friends was fleeting. All that time was magical, up until my Mother’s call-in for dinner.
Perhaps I’m feeling as autumn does the changing of my leaves. The beautiful crimson colours the trees and bushes change into. The newly crisp flowy air with less humidity. The lifting of summer’s glee with preparation for winter’s roar! I look forward to autumn and I do love when it’s here. But as the flowers, I too have become exhausted and require some rest.
I used to run for fun. Always, for tirelessly very long lengths of time. Up and down hills and on all types of terrain. In rain, wind, sun, heat, snow, it didn’t matter. Now, I’m particular about the terrain, temperature, and distance. Why? Because my knees ache from the surface or the climate or the distance. Again, because I’m older and I’ve been running for over 30 years. My knees don’t like running, but my head and heart love it.
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I wasn’t a lost person, always looking for themselves. I knew who I was early on. I felt connected to my world and work quite quickly. However, now I would love to talk to my 20-year-old self and say, “Hey, it’s ok to say NO – often. It’s ok not to agree. It’s ok that people won’t like you for being you. It’s ok to be independent. It’s ok to live along your own path even if it’s unpopular. It’s ok to simply be you!”
I remember riding my bike and listening to Steely Dan on the radio:
Are you reelin’ in the years
Stowin’ away the time
Are you gatherin’ up the tears
Have you had enough of mine
Just riding my bike in the sun and listening to the radio. Simply, simple.
So how does one ward off the pending gloom that surrounds adulthood? How do we reclaim reelin’ in the years?
My suggestion…”Screw Maturity”. That’s right, don’t grow up. Stay immature and child-like.
How does one stay immature? Embrace childhood happiness and simple joys.
They grew up. I grew up. We all grew up. I think it happened slowly. Perhaps, I wasn’t paying much attention. All I know is, just like that we all grew up.
I ask myself this question all the time – Is old faithful more dependable and reliable than the new and improved? Here are a couple of examples where I feel old faithful items are much more dependable than the new and improved ones.
Curling! I went curling for the first time in my life. Whether I enjoyed it or not didn’t matter. It was a chance to try something new. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised! Curling is a lot of fun and extremely technical.
I still think about my first car. It was a red Toyota Tercel with a hatchback. I had black and grey racing stripes put on the exterior to match the black and grey sport seats. After I purchased the car, it took me another year of savings to have a pop-up sunroof installed. I loved driving it everywhere. This was my freedom on wheels.
When my children’s book was launched in 2011, a wonderful publicist, Mike Cohen, told me to get busy on social media platforms. He suggested I get the news about my new book out into cyber space. So…I started a Facebook account for myself and for my book. It was quite exciting as I had never been publicly exposed in this way.
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