Month: October 2016

Excuse Me, Sir?

I’m pretty much like a lot of people when it comes to getting older and  what I mean is, we all see ourselves as being slightly younger than we actually are.  I still see myself as a young guy in my twenties, my loved ones tell me I haven’t aged a bit and most people who know me and get to interact with me on a daily basis would consider me a 12 year old stuck in an adults body so my going theme is youngish right?  Well, the other day I was at Chapters having a look around  perusing a few books trying to score a good read.  I wandered around spending a little time in some of my go-to sections when I finally came across a book that I was satisfied with, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, currently reading it and I got say I like it alot.  Once my purchase was complete I started away from  the counter when I heard “Excuse me, Sir?”    I paid no mind and continued on when all of the sudden I heard it again but this time louder, ok so that made me turn around in curiosity.

    Yup!…it was directed at me, I had left my keys at the sales counter and this employee was trying to get my attention to return them to me.  So the “sirs” were all for me, lol, it was a funny moment, I thanked him for the gesture and made my way out the door to my car.  I turned the key and sat there for a second, I couldn’t help but to start to think about what had just happened, it was the first time that I had be called sir or at least the first time it kind of resonated the way that it did.  As I said I still think that I am in my twenties, so getting the sir was like a kick to the shin.  It did surprise me a bit hearing it but I’m glad that it happened because it got me thinking and since then I’ve been recalling some great memories.  I’m not sure what it was but it just created this moment of thought for me where I just started to really take in account that I’ve got some years punched, lol.

    My daughter was out the other night, she had asked me to help her with her university project.  (I’m writing whole post about it) The reason I mention my daughter is that its when I am with her that I feel my age, I look at her in disbelief that it has been eighteen years already that she’s been alive, poof just like that.  Seeing her go through her stages of life is surreal, experiencing all the same things as I did.  I take a step back sometimes and ask myself how was I capable of creating such a smart beautiful young lady like my daughter before me and why doesn’t she stop growing up.

    I’ll be forty next April (ouch) and trust me there are days that I do feel the milage on my body but I do my best to try to stay as in shape as I can which helps me maintain a healthy living.  Staying active is a very good way to stay young, physical activity can take years off your life and no matter what the age anyone can do it.  Want to feel good about yourself and get on Father Time’s good side well I suggest working out, that can mean anything at all that works up a sweat and gets the ol’ heart rate going.

    Age is certainly just a number and we mustn’t allow ourselves to get too consumed with the fact that we all must grow old.  Celebrities are the most notorious for trying to set the clock back or maybe just hit pause for the sake of their careers but it usually just ends up looking very apparent that they have gotten a little lift or a pull maybe a nip or a tuck.  In my opinion I take more notice to the work that they had done rather than what they were trying to correct.  To each their own and c’est la vie, people will continue to chase the fountain of youth but unfortunately we will all die trying.  Life is relatively short and the chapters  of our lives (not the literal Chapters I was buying my book) go by so quickly it takes moments like the one that happened to me to make you stop, slow down and realize where we are with our lives.  We may all be in different stage of our lives but look at how far you have come, what you have accomplished, experienced and how much you have grown as a person.  Think about the people that you love and the relationships you get to spend every day with, time is what gives us that, take your time.

    “When you get older the months will feel like weeks and the years will escape you so take stock of what makes you happy and surround yourself with it”.  – Theresa Douglas

    Being called sir for that moment is not something that I took to heart and I certainly won’t lose any sleep over it but it was a reminder that I am getting older.  I do need to take stock of what makes me happy and so should you, we all need to celebrate the years we have been alive and the years that are to come.  Don’t be someone who lets time slip away, make sure you use that time for its intended purpose and that’s doing the things and loving the people that make us happy.  We can sit there  and wonder where all the time as gone but believe it or not its been there all along we just need to take advantage of it.

     

     

     

    Leave Alone

    As I stare at the branches the leaves fall away,
Barely able to hang on, the season won't let them stay;

Their colors deep shades of orange, some the darkest red,
I watched as the wind held you as you fled;

Your journey has ended and you now have to go,
Where will you land, how far will you blow?

The tree can't hold you any longer for autumn is here,
The cold is coming and winter is near;

Life went on while you fell from grace,
Nobody cared that you were displaced;

Laying there damp against the rain-soaked roads,
Scattered in whatever direction the cool breeze chose;

In death there is beauty if we just wait to see,
For in the place of just one fallen, there will someday be three.

    No Pattern to the Mist

    Hearing the rain reminds me of nights stayed in,
There was always something soothing about the wind;

The house shaking with every blowing gale,
The lights would blink, the lights would fail;

An extra blanket may be needed, it's bound to get cold,
Holding the covers tight, the heat I must hold;

The winds and rain violently crashing against the glass,
Each and every gust so much different than the last;

Whipping at the window no pattern to the mist,
Sometimes the sounds would allow me to drift;

I lie in bed staring at the ceiling,
The storm outside sometimes defines how I'm feeling;

As the rain pours down I get lost in my thoughts,
I recall the memories I had almost forgot;

Nowhere to be and nowhere to go,
Whistling of the wind as it continues to blow;

Tonight I’ll curl up to the howling pitter patters,
For now at least nothing else matters.

    Daily Prompt: Value

    “Value a moment of your life that makes you smile”.  So much goes on in our lives that we don’t take advantage of the smaller moments.  I went outside today and the first thing that I noticed was how much the trees have started to change colour.  The dark reds and palette of oranges were vivid, distinct, a sure sign that the season was changing before me and at the same time it made me reflect.

    I took a moment and listened, in the background, maybe a few neighbor’s across the way I heard a power saw.  The sound of a power saw for me has a lot of relevance, my grandfather used to use one all the time and when I hear one it reminds me of him.  I remember this one saturday morning as a young kid, I was planted comfortably on the couch wrapped in blankets anxiously awaiting the start of the marathon of cartoons that would surely keep my attention well into noon.  Just as the cartoons were about to start, right before dungeons and dragons I heard this noise, it was deafening, what was that god awful racket?

    At first I tried to power through it, maybe it would soon stop and I can go back to my animated bliss with no interruptions.  There it goes again, this time no matter how lazy and comfortable I felt I had to investigate what was ruining the start of my weekend.  So I got dressed, actually I just threw on a three times to big jacket and ventured outside to see who was the culprit and hopefully put a stop to all.

    I made my way down the side of the house all disgruntled when I turned the corner.  I looked across the yard ready to maybe get mad at an uncle, they were like brothers to me and I would have leverage to get them to stop.   Nope, it was pop, he was sawing up wood, the smell of sawdust hung at my nose and the sun had this certain tinge, for some reason that moment was itched in my memory forever.  I stood there watching him as he made calculated cuts to the wood in front of him, there was something tranquil about watching a man who never once in my life showed me that I wasn’t anything but his son.  Yes I was his grandson by blood but he was my dad by his choice.  He was there when no one else cared, he was the man that I valued in my life and someone for whom I respected until the day he passed.  I miss my grandfather terribly but I valued our time together each day of my life.

    That morning, and that moment in time, I realized that he made a lot of sacrifices to make sure I was well taken care of.  The wood he was cutting that day was brought on his own back, a metaphor for taking me on as his own responsibility.  From someone who was raised by their grandparents something as simple as sawing wood for me symbolizes how much I value my grandfather and his selfless gesture of being my surrogate dad.  I value everyday that I got to spend with that man, he taught me a lot in my young life and some of it I didn’t realize until I got much older.

    The picture attached to this post reminds me of that time, the time when my grandfather took it upon himself to be my mentor, to be my hero, to be my dad with no questions asked.

    I miss you pop.

     

     

     

     

    via Daily Prompt: Value