Life is Like

Life is Like...Responsibility (Bites)

Last year, I gave Joe a column suggestion. I know this will be hard for all of his readers to believe (especially those that know him personally), but he took the concept and went off in a completely different direction. After reading the first word scribbled on my note “responsibility” he took a left at Albuquerque. Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely funny, and in NO WAY am I dissing his work or think that the following is going to be anywhere near as funny as what you usually read here. But he is in Houghton and I have the laptop and as Paul Harvey would say, "here is the rest of the story".

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the word:  young (adjective) is, in part, described as being in the first or an early stage of life, growth, or development.

Now, take a moment, think back to those young carefree days we had as children. Grant it, some were blessed with more than others. Nonetheless, remember those hot summer days?

Going to the beach and making sand castles. Maybe your family didn’t go to the beach much. And your “beach” consisted of a garden hose, and, if you were lucky, a lawn sprinkler. Your only care in the world was that school was going to be starting, and your life as you knew it, was coming to an end. That is unless you actually liked going to school. Na, me either.

Those were the days.

Now jump to your early teen years. Remember that time in your life? Hormones and all? All you wanted to do was be older. After all, you were not an immature young child. You were on the cusp of becoming an immature young adult!

For you, getting older meant being able to date, drive, getting out of your parents house and so on.

The word “old”
Now for a brief description of the word: old (adjective); according to the same dictionary, to mean advanced in years, or age.

Now some of us can remember back. We remember hitting those favorite milestones in our lives, like turning 30 then 40. But that’s where I stop.

Many reading this will laugh, I hope, when they read that and think of me as almost being that carefree child I mentioned earlier. And if that is you, thank you!! Oops, looks like I’m going to be taking that same on-ramp to Albuquerque.

Some readers will remember the milestones further down the road, 60, 70, and maybe 80 or more.  Possibly remembering the times they put diapers on their babies, instead of their “babies” now helping them with their Depends. 

It reminds me of a comedian I once heard “justifying” his smoking by saying that the years that he would lose, would be the “crap in his pants years”.

When we are young, we just don’t understand that we should be enjoying those years. The ones  where we are responsible for nothing. We are just in a big hurry to get older.

The bottom line
As we age, we want to be younger; have energy again. We strive to be able to enjoy the things we used to, without having to take a nap in between.

Then there is the whole responsibility aspect! Remember again, a summer when you were too young to work. What a life! The toughest thing you probably had to do was a few chores.

With being older, come the harsh realities of responsibility. Taking care of your family, house, finances.  Not to mention your job.

And the list goes on and on...

The Mrs. Yooper Blah-Blah-Blah Theory on Aging
When you’re young, you fall, and bounce back up. 
When you’re early middle age, you fall, and look to see if anyone saw you.
When you’re smack dab in the midst of middle age, you take any and all precautionary steps necessary to insure that you do not fall.
When you’re later into middle age, you fall, and pray you don’t hear anything break.

While growing up, I frequently heard a saying from a very wise woman.
               
She would say, “I don’t mind growing old. It is a privilege denied to many.”

That very wise, and old woman, is my mom, Mary Faith Manning.

Remember that when you make that old person grunt sound as you get out of your chair.  Or, when you see a child without a care in the world.

But especially, when you wake up in the morning. Or from a nap, for that matter.

Katy Manning Schutte