Winter of life

You know. . . Time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.







But, here it is... The winter of my life and it catches me by surprise... How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.







But, here it is... My friends are retired and getting grey... They move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me... But, I see the great change... Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant... But, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we"d be. Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it"s mandatory! Cause if I don"t on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!







And so... Now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!! But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I"m not sure how long it will last... This I know, that when it"s over on this earth... Its over. A great new adventure will begin!







Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn"t done... Things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I"m happy to have done. It"s all in a lifetime.







So, if you"re not in your winter yet... Let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don"t put things off too long!! Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life... So, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember... And hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!

Very well stated.I often wonder the same thing and I haven't reached winter yet.

Vito

Great post! I suspect a lot of us are in a similar situation. Even though we slow down a little it sure seems like the clock moves even faster. I have been in the background of this site for years, but I have really grown to admire all of you for your great knowledge and willingness to help others out. My dad started farming with horses and mules and I can not believe I started driving tractors more than 50 years ago. I'm still working, but trying like heck to get all the "big" projects out of the way while I'm still able. I'm not sure if I'm in winter yet, but that's the rub.....we never know for sure.

Very well said ..at 70 I think I am there, ever time I walk around the shop I look at that project I just have not got to yet..Have now kinda began to set priorties on things I want to get finished. Ever time I buy something I say to my self will I have time to use it. So far in good health and plan to keep going long as I can.
Might say I am just hoping for a long winter.

I am 70 and doing pretty well. I prefer to think that is late fall and there are still some warm days left.

Very touching, watch these Videos, they say in song what youre talking about. A couple of my dear old friends are now too feeble to go on adventures and do the things we did just a few years back and that saddens me because I miss them and realize I'm just a few years behind them. Sometimes I have little recall of the years our kids were growing up so I tell my younger buddies with young kids to cherish the years they're in now because they are the best of their lives, although they wont realize that until theyre older like me. Never make fun of old people because someday you will be like them IF YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH.


After you watch the video linked below, give this one a look see, "The Times of Your Life" by Paul Anka. Copy and paste it into your Browser or else search for Paul Anka, "The Times of Your Life"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtxanSrNdN8


Finally, from a Rod McKuen Poem, Stanyan Street sung by Glen Yarbrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prYY_ilLuqA

"I have total recall of you and Stanyan Street because I knew it would be important later"

A passage from "Ode to Intimations of Immortality", recollections of my early childhood, by William Wordsworth I believe...

"Oh what thought the radiance once so bright be now forever taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass of glory in the flower, we will grieve not rather find strength in what remains behind"

God Bless you in the Winter of your life

Ol John T and all
Bed by the Window

I turned 70 this year, so I guess you could say I'm on borrowed time. But I still have a plan for thing to get done every day. Some days plans go astray, and some days they go better than expected. I have to keep on going, there's too much yet to accomplish.

Very well said. Its getting scary. Wife went pricing tomestones today and what she wanted on it. So many folks I know are out there already.

VERY well stated! I don't think any of us are really "ready" for our fall and winters. When I retired I thought of it as entering the "fall" season of my life, ready to tackle all those things that I had been putting off for years. Then my knees and legs went south on me and made it difficult to proceed at the pace that I once did. Oh, I can still do a good days work, it just takes me all week to get it done!
They say that the older you get, the faster time goes,but I didn't expect it to go into overdrive this soon! There are a lot of songs that say the way we feel, but I really like one called "Time" by Bobby Bare, it's on Youtube if you haven't heard it.
My daughter developed a good philosophy a few years back. Every time she leaves the house, she says, "I love you", because she says,"you never know if you will make it back." And don't put off calling a dear friend or relative to say Hi, or check on them. Not long ago I kept intending to call an old school buddy and we then worked for the same company for over 32 years. Well, i didn't get around to calling him, and then one day his obituary was in the paper.
We have made it this far, might as well make up our minds to keep going as long and as best as we can. Lowell

Very good touching and thought provoking message. While I read it I started thinking about what season I consider myself to be in at 62. I came up with late summer. When my body is feeling good I can still get a fair amount of work done. My dad, who will be 89 next month was in the autumn of his life till three years ago when he got shingles. That disease forced him into early winter. My 90 year-old stepmother is still in late fall. Jim

Very true statement's. I can remember my Mom saying how fast time flew as she got older. I being only in my lower 20's didn't really understand, but now as I am getting real close to 70, I fully understand what she was saying. It takes all day to do what you could do in a couple hour's in your younger year's.

MO - Do NOT sit there and just think of the past. Willie sung about having a real good reason for all the things he'd done.
GET GOING!!! You got a certain amount of time left, GET GOING!! Lose that blubber around the belly, get to the library, learn some thing new, start drinking protein shakes, walk, walk, walk, go to the high school track and REALLY walk, get off your aCC and get 'er going!!! Start plowing SOMETHING, don't matter what it is. GETR 'ER GOING, make a hand!!

Mo in NE TX,

So eloquently stated - put a mist in my eyes when I read it last night. Perhaps you should consider writing a memoir.

I hope your winter will have many mild, sunny days and be long enough... but not too long.

I will share your words with our children (though they won't understand it until they are in those later seasons of life).

I would say we are fast approaching our fall, but only the good Lord really knows... perhaps it is later than we think! All the more reason to do as you say - because before we know it, tomorrow becomes yesterday.

I'm not kidding when I say that most if not all of the people my age that I've known who hit life at warp speed to try to get a lot done in a short time are dead. I think going as slowly and cheaply as possible has its merits.

Whe you reach our age (I too am three score and ten) "The past is much more glorious than the future."

Great post Mo, well said. We all need to be keenly aware of what season of life we are in and live life to its fullest . As I approach retirement I think of my life as a race that I need to finish strong not just limp to the finish line.

The wintertime of my life came long ago in my more youthful days, when my life was filled with mental and emotional pain. After surviving that time, my more elderly years have felt more like Indian summer!

(quoted from post at 06:40:25 08/01/13) Whe you reach our age (I too am three score and ten) "The past is much more glorious than the future."

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You hit the nail on the head with that one - 'The older I get the smarter, faster, better-lookin and ornery I usta was!' - I had a 'youngster' tell me awhile back that he could not think of anything worse than growin' old - I told him that there is one thing worse and that's dying young - he said he would 'think' about it :roll: