I can remember playing hide and seek as a kid with boundless energy. I loved the part when the counting was done and I could yell out ‘ready or not here I come’. Ah, life was so simple then. My parents did the worrying, and I did all the playing. Somewhere between those young years and early teens I got in a big hurry to grow up. What was I thinking? Freedom! The chance to do what I wanted. No one to tell me what to do. Again, I ask what was I thinking?
“Nothing is ever free” my dad used to say, especially when he thought one of us kids were about to ask for money. There’s a hidden cost somewhere. With it came the lecture of the value of work, and the pleasure of a job well done. I loved when he told me ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’. I knew he had to be wrong because work didn’t seem to make him happy. He counted down the years until he could retire.
My brilliant idea was, he must have chosen the wrong career. I responded by daydreaming and making a plan for my great life. And plan I did. Waiting, I did a lot of that too. Those were some of the slowest years I can remember. Most of those plans never materialized anyway. Life happened instead. You know what I’m talking about, friends, my first kiss, first love, first child and so on. All great moments in time and memories.
My dad was right. Everything cost something. With freedom comes lots responsibilities, ownership of my own mistakes, and of course, people who still tell me what to do. Only now with each passing year I get to do it all in an older body. The years no longer crawl by, but are rapidly speeding by so quickly that ten years ago seems like yesterday. I hear each new year calling out ‘ready or not here I come’ and I’m grateful to be found and to see it come.
What life has taught me is to live in each moment. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone and if you blink you can miss it altogether. Love now, write now, simply put enjoy now. Life can be rough at times, but it can also be amazing. 2017 has rolled in and I stayed up to watch it. No I didn’t party, but I read a good book and waited patiently to cheer its coming with my husband. Happy 2017 may it be a kind year to you and those you love.
