Bonus Years

Kim and I just returned from a week in Phoenix celebrating his dad’s 90th birthday! We threw a nice party for him and old friends gathered to wish him well and congratulate him on this milestone. I heard a few people congratulate him on this accomplishment and I thought to myself, “accomplishment?” There isn’t much to accomplishing a birthday. They happen every year. All you have to do is wake up every morning for 365 days and there you are, another birthday! But, there is something special about 90! Not everyone is blessed to see that number and not everyone who sees that number is blessed to be there.

My father-in-law is one of the blessed ones. His health isn’t perfect. He actually has cancer, but you wouldn’t know it. He golfs every week, walking the course even. He looks 15 years younger than his age. He still serves his church. He gardens and continues to build things with his hands. Whatever happens from here is all bonus.

I do wonder, though, why some people get those bonus years and others don’t? Is it just good genes, healthy living, luck of the draw, fate, destiny, perhaps a combination of all those things? My own dad died at 67. No bonus years there. Am I jealous? A bit. I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t. I miss my dad, but I’m glad Kim is still able to share his life, his thoughts, his dreams with his dad. I remind him often not to take that for granted.

Time with family can become a drama that will rival any Hollywood movie, but not this time. This time a fast paced week slipped away quickly as we shared memories, laughter, fears, and dreams with some of the people we love most in the world. Most importantly we shared time. No gift wrapped up in pretty paper, topped by a bright, colorful bow can come close to matching the treasure of time.

Pick up the phone. Drop a short note. Send a text. Visit. Let the people in your life know just important they are to you. You may not get bonus years, but in the end time spent together, time spent talking to one another, no matter how you do it…that’s the real bonus.

It’s Already Been A Year!

It has been one year since we jumped ship and traded in snow boots for flip flops. I’m pretty sure it’s been the fastest year of my life! If I didn’t know better I’d think I have been caught in some sort of time-space continuum that shortened a year by six months. It sounds so cliché and trite to talk about the passage of time that we all experience and all feel goes far too quickly, but I am amazed that it is October and a year since this new direction took flight.

So, how do I feel? I’m not sure. It’s been a year of discovery. There’s a big difference between visiting a place and living there, as I knew there would be. It’s impossible not to compare one place to another, and when comparing Florida to Colorado you’ve got some big differences to measure.

You’ve got weather differences where temperature alone doesn’t tell the whole story. In Colorado you can barely squeeze moisture out of a raindrop. In Florida there is so much moisture in the air a set of gills would be handy. In Colorado an hour in the sun, perhaps less is all you need to dry a load of laundry. Do that here and it will be soggier the next day than it was when you started! I am convinced that the greatest invention of mankind is air conditioning! Don’t believe me? Come visit in August or even September. Dare you! I’m not saying anything about hurricanes. We have two more months of hurricane season, and until then I’m not tempting fate.

The terrain of Colorado and Florida couldn’t be more divergent. Majestic mountains with 14,000 ft. peaks brushing the sky versus flat, flat, flat. That’s not totally fair, because there is the hill country of north central Florida and the rolling terrain of the panhandle, but down here in the southern peninsula, it’s flat! The upside, there is no “up side”. You can walk and bike in both directions and it’s flat both ways. No need for 21 gears on your bike here. One will do.

While Colorado is awash in fall colors we are still green and will mostly stay that way. But while colorful Colorado will soon fall bare we are only just beginning to come alive in flowers. Different varieties blooming one after another, setting the landscape ablaze with fall and winter colors of a different kind.

I miss the snow during the holidays, and those days when you can curl up in front of a fire with a good book while it snows softly outside. I don’t miss scraping my windshield, pushing a grocery cart through it, or sliding through an intersection on ice. I love the water and Florida has no shortage of it. The Gulf is gorgeous. For much of the year it offers a refreshing place to swim, while enjoying the sand and sun. When I’m not there, I’m in the pool. So, let’s see, shoveling snow or building sand castles? You choose. I already have.

I miss my friends, but what Florida has that Colorado doesn’t have is our kids and our grandson. There is no measuring stick for that. It has been good to be near them again. To be able to be a part of their lives, not just visitors in them. Life changes quickly and we won’t always live close, but for now we are happily drinking in that blessing.

So, where did the time go? Where it always goes. Somewhere behind us. There are lots of theories about why it seems time passes more quickly the older we get. The important reality, it does, so pay attention. It’s already been a year!