Times of Change

I’m a Generation X. I don’t know what that means really but I do know that each generation is a little bit different. My generation, I feel, was unique. We grew up in such a time of technological change. When I was a young teenager, we got our first microwave. Phones were still dial and ours was hanging on the wall with a ten-foot phone cord. Computer dial up was not yet invented but was coming soon. I used my first computer in high school. We played kicked the can, hot box and basketball for hours upon hours. It was all what we knew. Childhood seemed to be one endless summer and then bam all grown up. Space shuttle, pagers turned quickly into cell phones which rapidly got smaller and smaller. They say that cell phones today are more powerful than any computer that was around when I was growing up. Television changed dramatically as well, from black and white to a few channels to seven. TV would shut off at midnight and play the national anthem and then go static. Then came MTV, video killed the radio star. Times of change.

Time has no real meaning when we’re young. I, as a child, keep looking to the future. I was laying on my living room floor in the 80’s figuring out on paper how old I would be in the year 2000. It seemed like such a long time away and here it is already 2025. Time has changed and it has changed quickly. Slow down, please slow down. I spent so much time just wanting to be older, to be able to do all the things “old” people did that I forgot about living in the moment. Being so brash and egocentric I thought I was living in the moment, I thought I was so smart and intelligent. The reality was I was just an impatient kid and dumb. I didn’t have the wisdom that only comes with living through the years of experience. My dad used to tell me, “I’m only sharing this with you because I’ve been through it”. But I didn’t want to hear it. I shrugged it off as useless banter. Pffftt, what did he know? I knew everything. Oh, how times have changed. I’m in my late 50’s now and my dad is in his 80’s. We’re both still learning. Life is one big adventure of learning, growing, adapting, changing. I’m changing quicker in the aging department, but I am learning though.

Life is an extraordinary journey really, but time is a mortal enemy in many degrees. Some people seem to open their souls to a bit more of living than others. Some continue to go through the motions. But in both, there is no stopping the aging process, the natural process of time change. We’re new, we’re energetic, we’re powerful, agile and carefree for the most part. Then the weight of the world hits us smack in the face and the air comes out of our lungs with a big, “ooooofffff”. “What just hit me”? “Life”. ” Well, I don’t like that very much”, “life is supposed to be fun and easy, joy, joy, joy.” “Ha, that’s not how it works but welcome to time of change”. It happens to all of us; there is no escape. But the one thing we can do is be aware. Be aware of time, be aware of change, be aware of the past, present and future. Be aware and be alive no matter how much time as slipped. All we have is today and today is precious. Think about how precious today would be if you knew you wouldn’t have a tomorrow. Yes, we change through time and some of it is hard to get through but I’m telling you, the universe has a plan for every single one of us, and if we are wise enough, we get to travel through time to learn and glean all that we can and to share that with those around us. Times do change and they are changing faster and faster but it’s all just part of the great adventure. Journey on.