Fun Stuff

Every phase in our life has its challenges

And they always seem to loom as mountains at the time

 

 But really, heading into the last chapters has to be one of the roughest - or maybe its because our knees aren't what they used to be....

     Sometimes my memory bank goes back to a childhood encounter. The memory survives because it was such a traumatic moment at the time. I was a big girl, age 5, and  how was I NOT going to embarrass my daddy in front of the other grownups by not spitting out the fireball in my mouth?? It was burning the inside of my mouth and causing agony so great my eyes were watering.

     In high school there were the decisions of a lifetime that could make or ruin you; such as wearing the right outfit to an important party, or saying the right thing in front of the most popular boy in the class. I mean such things could keep you awake all night! 

     And there were other mountains looming that of course in retrospect mattered a great deal more, such as what path to pursue after high school as far as education, that serious relationship, and a career path. Wise parents tried to give us pointers on this one, but it was a toss up as to whether we listened to them or not.

      We can now all look back on past choices, traumas, good decisions, bad decisions. Hopefully we also remember the good times and the funny stories as well as the disappointments and the heartaches. 

     Okay some of the stories weren't funny at the time.

     My adolescent son certainly wasn't amused when he was away for a couple of weeks and left me in charge of taking care of the betas in his fish tank. They all died. 

     My husband didn't think it was very funny when I managed to lock all 3, yes that's all 3, sets of car keys In the car and locked the doors.  There's no sense in trying to explain how it happened now.

     That same adolescent son became a young adult. He was stationed in the middle east and agreed to meet me in Europe so we could vacation together. His superiors scheduled a huge operation at the last minute and he couldn't get away. It has never been clear why he didn't let me know, but I found myself in Italy on vacation alone. I stumbled through it and actually enjoyed myself most of the time. I got completely lost once. It was already dark outside but an obliging shop owner understood my sign language and called a taxi for me. So, it all turned out well and the son unintentionally paid me back for killing his fish. 

     Now we are all adults. With the wear and tear of the years taking its toll on memory, the body, and energy levels, we are supposedly on the downhill slope now. But it doesn't always feel that way. There are still some hills to climb and they sure look steep! But at least we have our previous experiences to help us.

 So now we try to advise the younger set from what we found out, and sometimes they even listen to us.  Especially if we don't remind them of how cute they were in the bathtub at the age of two.