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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Aging / Maturity
- Published: 09/05/2017
Soon I'll be sixty six years old.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United StatesSoon I’ll be sixty six years old, and as close to the grave as I once was to birth.
It is a long way from a side street in a river town - Cleveland, that emptied into a lake to the river town I live in now that empties into an ocean.
My first beach was at a lake in Berea, my last beach is a sandy one on an ocean.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old, will I still be walking like I am now, or talking like I did then, only time will tell. And no time tells us how much time we have.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old, an age I couldn’t even imagine. I cried when I was ten because my brother was done with High School, and I thought he wouldn’t have friends anymore. I used to think any age was to young to die, now I think I don’t want to be to old to live. My head isn’t any bigger but my mind is fuller. I learned all about math, fractions, and measurement from a ruler with a copper edge. Just a stick with numbers- to learn a little more they just made that ruler with a middle slide and you had a slide rule- and with that you could build the pyramids.
I used sticks a lot when I was a kid. Sometimes they were swords, or spears, or arrows, or even rifles, in a moment they could become a horse, a writing utensil, or a magic rod. With just a stick and some dirt, I played for hours. I could clack fences with that stick to make a bigger sound than a baseball card held in the spokes of your bike by a clothespin. When I started to walk up mountains, my sticks became poles; I could find the best walking sticks nature would provide- and I thanked her every time. Leaving them worn in the right places for a good grip, I would strip the bark, flatten the bumps, even out the tip, and when I finished my hike, I would leave them leaning on a rock at the base of the trail. People who never met me, thanked me through the air.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old. I didn’t make it through life without making mistakes, losing at love, or losing loved ones. Missing them is less painful than having missed out on knowing them. It is better to have loved and lost, than not to have loved at all. When the Bard first came up with that insight, he must have thought ahead to when he would be sixty years old. I used to fight to be heard, now I listen. I don’t fight much anymore because growing is much easier - and you don’t have to hurt anyone. Soon I will be sixty six years old.
I have some friends that made it through the decades, and a few I wish had too. I lost some friends due to me being me, and others to time and distance. The past is done, over, and fixed, only today can change tomorrow. I learned that along the way. For soon I will be sixty six years old. My body is starting to betray me in bunches of little ways, making me more and more grateful- an exchange of thankfulness not available to those trapped by youth into thinking : “Someday.” Someday is here now- because I am almost sixty six years older.
It doesn’t matter what kind of career I chose, the degrees I got, or the money I earned— all I needed to make it to sixty six years of age, was to stay alive. It looks so simple. It seems so natural to be alive. It isn’t. I no longer take for granted how lucky you are to be here- now. Today. If you (like me) have a roof over your head, people who care, food on the table, and things that interest you, you (like me) are lucky. Blessed. Alive.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old. The road I took wandered through hundreds of towns, cities, states, and even countries, and all the oceans of the Earth- but one. I have seen things made so long ago no one knows who even made them. I have seen things so far ahead of time, that they aren’t even in our Solar System anymore. Most of my life is History now, and a lot of my life saw History being made- and like most folks, I never even noticed. Soon I will be sixty six years old.
I watched a young comedian stop and pause - to let the audience savor this “joke” : “I was twelve years old, and called Blockbuster Video on the Phone to ask for a VHS tape.” No one knew what he was talking about- for none of them were over 25 years of age. They never saw a Blockbuster Store, or a phone that was stationary. Soon I will be sixty six years old- and how much farther back then Blockbuster Videos, and knotted phone cords does my life go?
Of all the things I would do better, or more often, only one really stands out now that I am almost sixty six years old: I would have been kinder. To those I love, to strangers, and most of all, to myself.
Soon I will be sixty six years old. My wife made more than half that journey with me. My children and grand children have made all their lives journeys- within my lifetime. Soon they will be sixty six years old. I hope that they look back and think, like I did: “Wow. Soon I will be sixty six years old. “ And smile.
Soon I'll be sixty six years old.(Kevin Hughes)
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old, and as close to the grave as I once was to birth.
It is a long way from a side street in a river town - Cleveland, that emptied into a lake to the river town I live in now that empties into an ocean.
My first beach was at a lake in Berea, my last beach is a sandy one on an ocean.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old, will I still be walking like I am now, or talking like I did then, only time will tell. And no time tells us how much time we have.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old, an age I couldn’t even imagine. I cried when I was ten because my brother was done with High School, and I thought he wouldn’t have friends anymore. I used to think any age was to young to die, now I think I don’t want to be to old to live. My head isn’t any bigger but my mind is fuller. I learned all about math, fractions, and measurement from a ruler with a copper edge. Just a stick with numbers- to learn a little more they just made that ruler with a middle slide and you had a slide rule- and with that you could build the pyramids.
I used sticks a lot when I was a kid. Sometimes they were swords, or spears, or arrows, or even rifles, in a moment they could become a horse, a writing utensil, or a magic rod. With just a stick and some dirt, I played for hours. I could clack fences with that stick to make a bigger sound than a baseball card held in the spokes of your bike by a clothespin. When I started to walk up mountains, my sticks became poles; I could find the best walking sticks nature would provide- and I thanked her every time. Leaving them worn in the right places for a good grip, I would strip the bark, flatten the bumps, even out the tip, and when I finished my hike, I would leave them leaning on a rock at the base of the trail. People who never met me, thanked me through the air.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old. I didn’t make it through life without making mistakes, losing at love, or losing loved ones. Missing them is less painful than having missed out on knowing them. It is better to have loved and lost, than not to have loved at all. When the Bard first came up with that insight, he must have thought ahead to when he would be sixty years old. I used to fight to be heard, now I listen. I don’t fight much anymore because growing is much easier - and you don’t have to hurt anyone. Soon I will be sixty six years old.
I have some friends that made it through the decades, and a few I wish had too. I lost some friends due to me being me, and others to time and distance. The past is done, over, and fixed, only today can change tomorrow. I learned that along the way. For soon I will be sixty six years old. My body is starting to betray me in bunches of little ways, making me more and more grateful- an exchange of thankfulness not available to those trapped by youth into thinking : “Someday.” Someday is here now- because I am almost sixty six years older.
It doesn’t matter what kind of career I chose, the degrees I got, or the money I earned— all I needed to make it to sixty six years of age, was to stay alive. It looks so simple. It seems so natural to be alive. It isn’t. I no longer take for granted how lucky you are to be here- now. Today. If you (like me) have a roof over your head, people who care, food on the table, and things that interest you, you (like me) are lucky. Blessed. Alive.
Soon I’ll be sixty six years old. The road I took wandered through hundreds of towns, cities, states, and even countries, and all the oceans of the Earth- but one. I have seen things made so long ago no one knows who even made them. I have seen things so far ahead of time, that they aren’t even in our Solar System anymore. Most of my life is History now, and a lot of my life saw History being made- and like most folks, I never even noticed. Soon I will be sixty six years old.
I watched a young comedian stop and pause - to let the audience savor this “joke” : “I was twelve years old, and called Blockbuster Video on the Phone to ask for a VHS tape.” No one knew what he was talking about- for none of them were over 25 years of age. They never saw a Blockbuster Store, or a phone that was stationary. Soon I will be sixty six years old- and how much farther back then Blockbuster Videos, and knotted phone cords does my life go?
Of all the things I would do better, or more often, only one really stands out now that I am almost sixty six years old: I would have been kinder. To those I love, to strangers, and most of all, to myself.
Soon I will be sixty six years old. My wife made more than half that journey with me. My children and grand children have made all their lives journeys- within my lifetime. Soon they will be sixty six years old. I hope that they look back and think, like I did: “Wow. Soon I will be sixty six years old. “ And smile.
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