This is in no way golf related, but I am going to write about the ‘back nine? of life.
Which, arouses questions like: How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
Time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that we were young, just married and embarking on our new lives, Hazel and me.
Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.
But, here it is . . . The Back Nine Of My Life and it catches me by surprise. How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
I was only on the first hole, and the back nine was so far off, I couldn’t even try to imagine what the back nine would be like
But here it is: my friends are retired and getting grey; they move slower and when I see each of them, I see an older person now.
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day. And taking a nap is not a treat any more — it’s mandatory.
You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life, so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember.
If you are on the back nine make it a fantastic nine. And remember, it is health that is real wealth and not the pieces of silver and gold.
Lastly consider this:
? Your kids are becoming you, but your grandchildren are perfect.
? Going out is good, coming home is better.
? You miss the days when everything worked with just an “ON” and “OFF” switch.
? You tend to use more 4 letter words, “What? When??
But old is good in some things: Old songs, old movies and best of all OLD FRIENDS!
* * *
Also good were Burma Shave signs. The company started their roadside sign campaign in 1955 on two roads out of Minneapolis.
Burma Shave first had to convince shavers to switch from brush to cream. The first of their 600 signs used humor:
He played / a sax / had no B.O/ but his whiskers/ scratched / so she let him go. And: The answer to / a maiden’s / prayer / is not a chin / of stubby hair.
“Said Juliet to Romeo / If you don’t shave / Go Homeo.” “He had the ring / He had the-flat / But she felt his / chin and that was that.
By 1963, the Burma Shave signs were few. Between the car companies pushing speed and highway do-gooders pushing safety, road side signage was billboard size or nothing.
The REOs, Packards, Studebakers, the V-8 engines and the speed controling politicians gave into the gas pedal freaks and we in the last few generations are settling for wheel chairs, walkers and canes.
In other words, we only have memories of the front nine of life.