Thirteen Years

Slipping in and out of consciousness this morning, I was thinking about the turn of the millennium.  Though it is often hard to make heads or tails of that thought train that rolls through in the early hours of the day before I get out of bed, I know I was remembering when I was in grade school thinking about what it would be like in the year 2000.  I remember doing the math - I will be 34 years old in 2000... still younger than Dad at that time, but definitely an adult.  Of course, as a kid there was never any consideration of my own mortality... whether I would even make it to the year 2K; but there was also that back math thinking how long it took to get to 9.  I also remember thinking I would remember that day in school in the year 2000.  Oddly enough, I did.

As I was laying in bed thinking about the year 2K passing, I somehow asked myself what year this is.  In the recesses of my mind I knew it was 2013, and as that answer managed to wiggle its way to the front of my mind, it scared me.  I found myself feeling like I lost 10 years that I could never get back.  Wasted time on those small meaningless tasks, or those unfinished projects, or those hobbies that never really got off the ground.  Those half-read books, and that time in front of the TV, or in a car, or airport terminal. Honestly, though, I am not the kind of person with the energy that would allow me to be on the go all the time.  Still, a little more planning could make me a more effective living being.

I don't usually spend my time contemplating such lofty ideas, but I often get a little disoriented after a week on the road spending every day in a different bed, in a different locale.  Getting home was nice.  Sleeping in my own bed was even better.