Childhood play and growing up... this one sucker-punched me hard

A

Aunt Marg

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I wanted to share this everyone.

My brain works overtime, that's a fact, but not once did the thought of the caption ever cross my mind.

When I read this it took my breath away, and I felt a sadness deep inside like I haven't felt in a long time. I must say that I sat in shock for a moment. It really caught me off guard.

I can't say I remember the last time I went out and played with childhood friends, and of course not once did the thought cross my mind that it would be the last time.

Really makes one think and reflect.

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Aunt Marg said:
Really makes one think and reflect.
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Being still able to reflect is a very good thing.

By the time we get old enough, we'll have had several 'last times and not knowing'

I s'pose sky diving without a chute might be wunna the few 'last times' we'd be aware of while it's happening

As we age, saying g'bye (say) at an airport, one often wonders if there'll be yet another time to see that friend, or child, or parent

Kids, like in the pic, tend to look forward with the anxious 'what's next' frame of mind
I know I did

Now? I just savor the moment

Even put some words to a pic I took at the cabin;

211gD3G.png




Thanks for posting this, AM
 
Gary O' said:
Being still able to reflect is a very good thing.

By the time we get old enough, we'll have had several 'last times and not knowing'

I s'pose sky diving without a chute might be wunna the few 'last times' we'd be aware of while it's happening

As we age, saying g'bye (say) at an airport, one often wonders if there'll be yet another time to see that friend, or child, or parent

Kids, like in the pic, tend to look forward with the anxious 'what's next' frame of mind
I know I did

Now? I just savor the moment

Even put some words to a pic I took at the cabin;

211gD3G.png




Thanks for posting this, AM
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I love all that you said, Gary.

Your words have helped soothe and numb a little of the hurt.

Reflecting on the many lasts that we unknowingly carry with us, it's a reminder, if not a cruel reminder, as to how quickly life goes by, how quickly we grow, and how short life really is.

The picture you took from your cabin, seeing the sun setting, it sort of reminds me that as long as the sun is still shining, there's living to do and lasts that we will still experience, but most of all, time is still on our side.

Such a befitting picture to add to this thread, Gary. So beautiful, and the best expression I could ever think of. Thank you for it. 🤗
 

Lewkat said:
OMG, yes, I can relate to this. Wow.
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You know, Lew, life in many ways goes by at warp speed, one minute we're kids, the next we're out of our childhood homes embarking upon our own paths and journeys, and before you know it, 50, 60, 70 (plus) years have passed, prompting one to ask themselves, where did all the years go.

I can't help but think of Gary's, words. So many lasts that we have experienced and lived through, with more to come.
 
Aunt Marg said:
You know, Lew, life in many ways goes by at warp speed, one minute we're kids, the next we're out of our childhood homes embarking upon our own paths and journeys, and before you know it, 50, 60, 70 (plus) years have passed, prompting one to ask themselves, where did all the years go.
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This is so true Marg. Now my son is feeling it more and more as some of his friends have passed away in the last few years. I had such a great bunch of friends as a child. Maybe one or two of us left.
 
Lewkat said:
This is so true Marg. Now my son is feeling it more and more as some of his friends have passed away in the last few years. I had such a great bunch of friends as a child. Maybe one or two of us left.
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It's haunting for sure.

I can't tell you how often I count my blessings for having been able to enjoy the amount of time that I have already, knowing so many others weren't given any time at all, or so much less.

I never gave much though about death in my young and growing years, that is until I lost a lifelong childhood friend my grad year, and that was the turning-point for me.

Still, it wasn't until I got to be in my 40's, where I truly started thinking about my own mortality.
 
Aunt Marg said:
It's haunting for sure.

I can't tell you how often I count my blessings for having been able to enjoy the amount of time that I have already, knowing so many others weren't given any time at all, or so much less.

I never gave much though about death in my young and growing years, that is until I lost a lifelong childhood friend my grad year, and that was the turning-point for me.

Still, it wasn't until I got to be in my 40's, where I truly started thinking about my own mortality.
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A few friends died while we were still in grade school and when I got to nursing school at the tender age of 17, I became very aware of my mortality.
 
Lewkat said:
A few friends died while we were still in grade school and when I got to nursing school at the tender age of 17, I became very aware of my mortality.
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I often wonder, Lew, if my ability to look past or not think about my own mortality was the result of life coming at me at hyper-speed for the first 30 years of my life.

It truly was a whirlwind of change, growing, and blossoming, then life slowed down somewhat, enough where I could catch my breath and reflect.
 
Aunt Marg said:
I often wonder, Lew, if my ability to look past or not think about my own mortality was the result of life coming at me at hyper-speed for the first 30 years of my life.

It truly was a whirlwind of change, growing, and blossoming, then life slowed down somewhat, enough where I could catch my breath and reflect.
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That's possible, Marg. Often, when a person is forced to grow up quickly, one hasn't the time nor inclination to stop and think about life at all. When our kids start growing up faster than we'd like, we look in the mirror and ask ourselves, where did time go and how much longer do I have on this planet? It can be quite startling and a real eye opener.
 
Lewkat said:
That's possible, Marg. Often, when a person is forced to grow up quickly, one hasn't the time nor inclination to stop and think about life at all. When our kids start growing up faster than we'd like, we look in the mirror and ask ourselves, where did time go and how much longer do I have on this planet? It can be quite startling and a real eye opener.
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That was me, Lew.

Being big sister to baby siblings thrust me into a role of what felt like early motherhood, and combined with genetics, I matured way too fast.

I love your words... "a real eye-opener", it's so true.
 
Lee said:
The picture kind of makes me want to go on Facebook and see how many are still around. But I don't do Facebook/

Then again I live for the future, what is past is past for me, maybe not a good thing.
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Ironically enough, Lee, I'm not on Facebook either, but that's where the image came from.

I have a friend that has always lived by your adage, and in many ways I sort of see it as a plus.

Me on the other-hand, I've always had an uncanny memory for my past, as well as all things in the past, and so I just can't shake thoughts and visions that visit me from my early beginnings, probably why things like this affect me so acutely.
 
It is a good reminder to live each day, each hour, as if it were our last...because it very well could be.

i think I’ve learned to live by this code because of all of the moves we made. Saying goodbye to so many people who have crossed my life path, and saying goodbye to my husband, who traveled 5 days a week. We’ve always tried to say goodbye, not casually, but as if it were our last. We did that, always, when we were younger, but with more intensity now because at our ages...every new day really IS a gift!

I had a good friend, a couple of years ago, that I would meet for coffee two or three days a week. One morning we had coffee, did our usual laughing and talking, and as we parted for the morning, said our usual goodbyes, gave each other a hug and went about our day. Three days later I was reading the paper, glanced at the obituaries and saw a picture of a lady and thought “Gee, she looks alike like Rosealie.” Looked at the name...and it WAS my Rosealie! She had died the very day we had coffee and I didn’t knowI’m so glad we had that morning together, that we laughed, and hugged each other goodbye.

Carpe Diem, Aunt Marge💕
 
Kathleen’s Place said:
It is a good reminder to live each day, each hour, as if it were our last...because it very well could be.

i think I’ve learned to live by this code because of all of the moves we made. Saying goodbye to so many people who have crossed my life path, and saying goodbye to my husband, who traveled 5 days a week. We’ve always tried to say goodbye, not casually, but as if it were our last. We did that, always, when we were younger, but with more intensity now because at our ages...every new day really IS a gift!

I had a good friend, a couple of years ago, that I would meet for coffee two or three days a week. One morning we had coffee, did our usual laughing and talking, and as we parted for the morning, said our usual goodbyes, gave each other a hug and went about our day. Three days later I was reading the paper, glanced at the obituaries and saw a picture of a lady and thought “Gee, she looks alike like Rosealie.” Looked at the name...and it WAS my Rosealie! She had died the very day we had coffee and I didn’t knowI’m so glad we had that morning together, that we laughed, and hugged each other goodbye.

Carpe Diem, Aunt Marge💕
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Your story about your friend, Rosealie, reminds me so much of my lifelong childhood friend that I lost my grad year.

We graded together, then she moved away (a heartbreak for me)... how I missed her, then she came back in the early fall to visit, and we spent an entire week together... meeting up for coffee, going out for lunch and shopping. When it was time for her to leave, we hugged, we cried, and we said our goodbye's, and not two months later she was gone.

Carpe Diem is right, Kathleen.
 
I don't want to detract from the current line of conversation that's going on, but the picture isn't resonating with me the same way it is for others. My reaction is that my life has been filled with a lot of last times for all sorts of things some known and some unknown and not even recognized. I thought that what happened with me is my play evolved into different areas such as playing board games, making home movies or doing photography, developing the film and printing it together. As we grew up our "play" changed.

It might also be because I didn't have a core group of childhood friends. I just did the math and we moved at least 7 times between the time I was born and the time I was 15. Two of the last three moves took me to the same area in different houses but there was a third move to another area for six months.

So I think my life has had lots of lasts that I had to move past because that's just what was happening in my life. Also I have always been one of the shy kids so I wasn't quick to get a lot of new friends, but found a few that I spent time with. Some were very good and over the last week I've had the opportunity to "see" two of the ones from my teenage years and beyond on a Zoom meeting in celebration of my mom.

There are things that I thought I would never stop doing or never stop enjoying in my teens and 20's that I no longer do or no longer interest me. I don't think I'm one who holds a nostalgic grip on my past and the people, events and things that were part of it. I look back on them fondly but generally don't feel a sense of loss or longing for them. They are part of what's brought me to this point in my life that I'm enjoying very much because of them but without them.
 
Pappy said:
It seems like that one day we are kids and playing all types of games, and then boom, there’s a wall there and we are going into service, getting married and working to support a family. Happens so fast...
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Heh, a couple decades ago, I took a few moments to put together a little thing, my synopsis of life...sorta

Of course I'm driven by any thoughts tainted with funny.....


Seems life is divided up into indistinct sections of which we ease in to and out of,​

like a balloon coaxed thru a small opening, morphing sometimes without notice:​


Eating/pooping (part 1, discovering texture)​

​

Preschool (intro to social, sharing)​


School (the teacher is God)​


Teenage (high school hell, for teen and parent,​

hormones are an entity requiring exorcism, the teacher is Satan)​


College/military (fun, fun, fun; learn, drink, fornicate, kill)​


Pre-parental Early adult (more fun, but serious, sipping not chugging,​

serious pursuits, mating, career)​


Parental (joy)​


Parental hell (see teenage)​


Midlife (see early adult, attempts at hindsight adjustments)​


Grandparent (brief joy)​


Grandparental hell (hiding, see teenage)​


Musing Youngish Geezer (lazy boy-crossword-Jeopardy sessions, looking upon mate with renewed ardor, reflecting, attempting things you did with ease years ago)​


Geezer (whazzat? Whoozzair?)​


Eating/pooping (part 2)...Nurse!? I did it again (toothless smile)​


Dirt nap​

 
Gary O' said:
Heh, a couple decades ago, I took a few moments to put together a little thing, my synopsis of life...sorta

Of course I'm driven by any thoughts tainted with funny.....


Seems life is divided up into indistinct sections of which we ease in to and out of,​

like a balloon coaxed thru a small opening, morphing sometimes without notice:​


Eating/pooping (part 1, discovering texture)​

​

Preschool (intro to social, sharing)​

​

School (the teacher is God)​

​

Teenage (high school hell, for teen and parent,​

hormones are an entity requiring exorcism, the teacher is Satan)​

​

College/military (fun, fun, fun; learn, drink, fornicate, kill)​

​

Pre-parental Early adult (more fun, but serious, sipping not chugging,​

serious pursuits, mating, career)​

​

Parental (joy)​

​

Parental hell (see teenage)​

​

Midlife (see early adult, attempts at hindsight adjustments)​

​

Grandparent (brief joy)​

​

Grandparental hell (hiding, see teenage)​

​

Musing Youngish Geezer (lazy boy-crossword-Jeopardy sessions, looking upon mate with renewed ardor, reflecting, attempting things you did with ease years ago)​

​

Geezer (whazzat? Whoozzair?)​

​

Eating/pooping (part 2)...Nurse!? I did it again (toothless smile)​

​

Dirt nap​

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Cute! And I’m happy to say I’ve made it 97% down the list,,,but I’m not looking forward to the next 3%. Would be much happier to totally skip over 2 of them and go directly to the last one 😊
 
Marg, Love you like a sister but you and I DO HAVE completely different outlooks on what happens after death.
In my truths, LIFE GOES ON THROUGH ETERNITY. In yours, blackness after death.
There is no way I can convince you of eternal life, all possibilities, expanding consciousness, more and more beginnings,
It would be futile for me to try.
"One convinced against his will,
is of the same opinion still."
I'm saying this to ease your anguish, not to argue philosophy; This is why we must appreciate every moment! It's gone now.
I have to say, your lament brings an ACUTENESS to REALLY CONNECTING, REALLY ENGAGING IN THE MOMENT! Cherish the good times and appreciate the bad times, for lessons are learned.
Don't be sad, my friend. I promise you will have all these moments again! Wonders upon wonders are ahead for you!
 
Gaer said:
Marg, Love you like a sister but you and I DO HAVE completely different outlooks on what happens after death.
In my truths, LIFE GOES ON THROUGH ETERNITY. In yours, blackness after death.
There is no way I can convince you of eternal life, all possibilities, expanding consciousness, more and more beginnings,
It would be futile for me to try.
"One convinced against his will,
is of the same opinion still."
I'm saying this to ease your anguish, not to argue philosophy; This is why we must appreciate every moment! It's gone now.
I have to say, your lament brings an ACUTENESS to REALLY CONNECTING, REALLY ENGAGING IN THE MOMENT! Cherish the good times and appreciate the bad times, for lessons are learned.
Don't be sad, my friend. I promise you will have all these moments again! Wonders upon wonders are ahead for you!
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Thank you so kindly for your precious words, Gaer. :love:🤗🥰
 
Gary O' said:

Teenage (high school hell, for teen and parent,​

College/military (fun, fun, fun; learn, drink, fornicate, kill)​

​

Click to expand...
So many rate college as the happiest of their young lives while high school was angst-ridden.

For me, high school rocked while college was pure business because the school's located in the same city where I lived with parents and brother. No dorm, no pep rallies, no social life there. They didn't even have a football team, just hoops and baseball.

Went like this: classes in the morning then rush down to the grocery store where I worked in the meat dept. until 9pm. Mon-Fri.
 
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