A decade ago, in a pensive moment of reflection and sentimentalism, I wrote “My Life in Seven Days”
In it, I compressed the seven decades I had been fortunate to have lived into seven days, noting that at such an age “days pass like minutes, years go by like days.”
Well, in a few more “minutes,” if the Reaper does not claim me first, I will reap the ambiguous right to be called an octogenarian.
With that august status, I am told, comes the right of being silly – even nostalgic and misty-eyed.
But, at that age, it is also prudent not to be too ambitious, not to be too forward-looking to the “next day” — in my case the ninth day.
So, let me just focus on the day that just flew by — the eighth day — and see if some of my wishes materialized.
At the end of my fluff piece, I contemplated:
It is now the end of “my week,” a week that has gone by much too swiftly. It seems inconceivable that only a week ago I cried “Hello” and that today it is almost time to whisper “Goodbye,” as the days, the hours, the minutes are forebodingly turning so very, very short.
I hope to be around for one more day to see my grandson grow up and to see him start a family of his own — perhaps even long enough to cherish a great-grandchild.
If that’s out of the question, I ask to have a few more hours to help guide my grandson through his adolescence, to hold him and comfort him when he has problems, to see him graduate from high school and on his way to college.
Another day has indeed flown by and the hours and minutes continue to tick faster and faster.
But it has been a good day. I have indeed seen my grandson graduate from high school and seen him off to college. More important, I have been blessed with another day to share love, health, joy and happiness with our family.
That great-grandchild is still only a glimmer in our grandson’s eye, but the day is still young.
As I did nearly decade ago, I once again “pray to be given a few more minutes to tell my grandson and all my family how much I love them, to tell them how precious every fleeting second of every day of our lives is, and to thank Him for seven eight short but exhilarating and unforgettable days — more than I deserve.”
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching” ~ Gerard Way
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.