In the blink of an eye
The years pass quickly
By Jim LaJoie
You don’t remember it, of course, but you are baptized in the Catholic church some weeks after coming into the world. A small circle of family members attended the service, went back to your parent’s house after for a small celebration. The newly-born you has his entire life before you….
First day of school, kindergarten. First day away from your mother for a significant length of time. Walking into the school, knowing only a handful of other kids, slightly scared. You are dressed in the nicest shirt and pants you own with a pair of black penny loafers. By the end of the day you have met a few other boys, made some friends. You enjoyed the lesson the teacher presented. Your mother picked you up at the end of the day, you told her all about what you did….
Rushing home after school to complete your homework so that you could go outside and play with your friends. Occasionally a fight would break out with one of your friends only to be quickly forgotten. Board games in bad weather….
Shopping for new school clothes with my mother before Labor Day. The Jerry Lewis Telethon marking the end of summer….
You are about seven or eight when you receive your First Communion and go to Confession for the first time. Not having much to confess, you made up a few things, nothing major, lying to parents, getting mad at one of your sister’s. You took the five Hail Mary’s handed out….
Snowball fights and street hockey in winter, whiffle ball in summer, football in the fall….
Junior high school, some kids you went to elementary school are there, but so are a number of kids you don’t know….
You are 12 now. You are vaguely interested in that girl in your class, Judy, although you don’t know why…..
At about 13 you are Confirmed in the Catholic Church….
High school, yet another new school. Senior prom, you get up the courage to finally ask the girl you have had a crush on for two years to go with you. To your surprise she agrees….
You begin shaving, even you see the physical differences in yourself, part-time jobs, driving lessons, drivers test, drivers license…..
College applications, college rejections, college acceptances…..first day, a stranger in a new world…..making new friends, dating, cramming for tests, drinking too much at times, the four years go by quickly….
Sending resume after resume in hopes of getting that first job out of college. It finally comes. You begin working, something you will wind up doing for about 40 years……
In your early twenties….hanging with friends, bars, trying to meet girls, getting your first apartment….
Mid-twenties, meeting that girl who changes your entire life, meeting her parents, she meets yours, saving for a ring, asking her to marry you, helping to plan the wedding, moving out of your apartment….
Becoming a homeowner for the first time, struggling to meet all the expenses you now have….
You are in your late twenties when the first child, a son, comes, early thirties when the second, a daughter, is born….
A grandparent passes, the first time death has struck close….
A needed promotion at work in your mid-30s, realizing you have gained a few pounds since your 20s, watching your oldest kid go off to his first day of elementary school….
Forty, an age that once seemed that of an older person. Taking both kids to soccer practices, attending birthday parties, backyard barbecues, occasionally getting together with your buddies….
Mid-forties, kids in high school, worrying about paying tuition, a new car but decide 100,000 miles is not bad…..
The last of your grandparents passes….
Both kids now in college, you and your wife are alone in the house for the first time in two decades. You are now earning decent money, as is your wife, but it still never feels enough…..
Your son, now in his first job after graduating college, brings home a young woman for the first time. She eventually becomes his wife. Your daughter is also married, a few years later….
Sixty, where did the time go? Both your parents are in failing health and you find yourself having to make major life decisions for them. By the end of your sixties you have lost both….
Retirement. What do you do with your time now? You’ve always loved and appreciated your wife, but there is an even deeper connection now. You plan to travel, as you both have long discussed….
You are a grandparent now, four beautiful children split evenly between your son and daughter. You are proud of the people and parents your kids have become….
In your 70s, physically, you are still in decent shape but often feel creaky. Cataracts surgery, reading glasses. You hair is mostly a memory now…..
You and your wife soon reach 80 years of age. One night, after your wife has gone to bed, you recall the years of your life, not with melancholy but with disbelief at how fast the decades came and went…..
You have had a good life, one that has passed in the blink of an eye.
About the author: Jim LaJoie resides in North Carolina.