INTERNET GRANDFATHER®

Godson

                                        It's come as quite a surprise that my godson has graduated from college. I can't help but remember back to when he was born. It seems like yesterday. I'm having that reaction a lot lately.  I watch people I held on my knee as babies grow into adulthood. I watch trainees of what seems like yesterday become capable professionals. I watch people I think of as young become parents and grandparents. I see people my age retiring and, indeed, dying.

                                                  When I was young, I had only the barest inkling of what it would mean to age. I sensed that there would be physical weakening and some slow-down in mental functioning, that things would be somewhat slower and more difficult. I also knew there would be compensations of aging, from experience and education, from earlier satisfaction, from the calming that seemed to come to the aging people I knew. The one thing I didn't understand was how fast time would pass as I have aged.

                                                   I still remember how slowly time seemed to pass when I was young. Waiting for Christmas, waiting for the next birthday, waiting for high school, waiting for a driver's license- all seemed to take an eternity. Reaching my present age seemed impossible. Even when I was somewhat older, my grandmother's age seemed impossible. How did everyone grow up so fast?

                                                  In some ways, I still feel young. If I didn't look in the mirror or try to do something physical, I could still think of myself as young. I don't feel old inside my head. Maybe that's the lesson of all this: Don't let chronological age define us, don't let age get us down, don't worry about how fast time seems to pass. Instead, let's keep on doing the best we can, let's keep trying to keep up no matter how fast things move around us.

6-4-07