It happens to me about this time every year. The melancholy, and bittersweet feelings that creep into my heart and mind. The nights become cooler. The morning dew becomes heavier. The sun sets sooner and rises later. All little signs of the times. Absorbed separately, these changes aren’t too bad. But for me they seem to roll together like a snowball heading downhill.
The late journalist Andy Rooney once wrote a column called “A Bad Case of the August Blues.” I’ll always be able to relate to that column. Mowing the grass is not fun anymore like it was in April or May. The crabgrass creeping through the cracks in the sidewalk is now an irritant instead of a challenge.
This time of year is also my most reflective. I find myself contemplating the future and recalling random memories of the past. I remember, people, places, and events. Paul Anka captured the feelings nearly perfectly when he wrote this in 1975:
“Good morning, yesterday
You wake up and time has slipped away
And suddenly it’s hard to find
The memories you left behind
Remember, do you remember?
The laughter and the tears
The shadows of misty yesteryears
The good times and the bad you’ve seen
And all the others in between
Remember, do you remember
The times of your life?”
The times of your life are happening all the time. We just don’t realize it until we reflect back on it. Maybe it’s a photo on your phone or a melody on the radio that brings it back to your mind. But the times of your life are always being created.
My daughter just bought a home and moved away. So ironic that she would move at this time of year. I have to say it just added to the feelings I seasonally conjure up. I was reflective and it was bittersweet. But it was mainly a proud feeling. She had worked hard to get to this point in her life and made sound financial decisions.
People deal with good and bad things all the time. Long term illness, daily aches and pains, promotions, graduations, weddings, funerals and births. Each one a moment in time. Each one painful, hopeful, joyous, gratifying, heartwarming, heart wrenching, heart breaking exciting, exhilarating and a memory.
One memory among thousands that make up the time of your life.
We can’t stop the seasons from changing. But we can cherish and remember the times of our lives. As the lyrics remind us:
“Reach out for the joy and the sorrow
Put them away in your mind
The memories are time that you borrow
To spend when you get to tomorrow
Here comes the saddest part
The seasons are passing one by one
So gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember, the times of your life.”
Until next time…