Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.

There is something to be said about growing older...and then realizing it.  Today presented a new avenue:  I pulled a muscle in my back while doing something that I would have considered to be rather routine.  It's a new kind of pain that I'd rather not experience again.  Like when I tore my Achilles heel in high school...that was worse-this is just inconvenient...because I'm not a sedentary person.  I find it difficult to just sit still.

In the last two years or so I've become acutely aware of just how fast time is going by...and I keep remembering a recording by Tim Allen for the state of Michigan's "Pure Michigan" tourism campaign.

"Twenty-five-thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get.  And if we get lucky — really lucky — it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic."


This campaign has been running since 2007 and every once in a while they play it...and every time, it makes me think about how I'm spending my 'time' and if those times are spent wisely.  I'm probably over-analyzing it a bit but that's just what I do to process things I can't wrap my arms completely around.


I'm watching Addison grow up at a distance...and she's growing up fast...and it's been a great experience for me to have.  For a little kid, Addison has helped me dig up stuff I didn't know was buried, she is very wise.  I'm constantly amazed at the vision of a small child and how it can really change your perspective on life-and specific situations.  Life without filters...what was that like again?  It seems so liberating and simple.


I see great things coming-realizing that, while a bit later in life than I'd hoped, it's coming at a time and pace that I am very comfortable with...I'm a 'late bloomer' and that alone has taken some time to get used to hearing and admitting.  It's okay to smell all the flowers before deciding which one I like best.  Very odd, considering how decisive I am in so many other aspects of life.  Or that I used flowers for that analogy.


Patience is not counted among my virtues, if that's what they can be called, but it's something that I can apply in copious amounts when needed.  It's rationed, if you will, on situations that require them.  I don't have a lot so I try to use them sparingly.  So far, it's worked out okay...


I still can't help but feel like by the time I figure this 'life' thing out, I'll be just about done...


...but then again, maybe that's the reward for a life well lived.