Where Have the Years Gone?
I surely don’t remember getting older, but here I am! (See Bus Stop)
And yet although I often forget where I parked my car, or where I left my eyeglasses, I can still remember in loving detail the big rubber boots my father wore as he pulled me on my sled during the northeastern snow storm of 1947. (See Blizzard)
This thing called aging is strange if nothing else , but a saving grace has been this amazing website where fellow writers – many I’ve never met – have become kindred souls sharing some of my memories, my joys and sorrows, my victories and defeats, and even some of my regrets. And reading their stories has helped validate my own, made me a bit wiser, and even more grateful to have journeyed this far!
But tell me please – where have the years gone?
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Where, indeed, Dana. It is remarkable that we can remember old memories so vividly, but not what we had for dinner last night. Writing these memories has helped me (and us) recall events from long ago (I’ve had such fun digging up the old photos and going back to my old day timers to get the dates right). And now there is a record of these events, if the future generations care (perhaps as they age, they will care).
And we do get to know our fellow writers across the years too – such interesting stories. Bring ’em on.
Yes Betsy, and if future generations don’t care so be it, we’re writing for each other and of course for ourselves!
Dana, although I’m a new member, I love this site. In my current aging process, I aim for truth in my writing, to go deep inside and discard all the flowery fabrications of my prior poetry. In doing so I find a resolve, a therapeutic revelation of my experiences that seem to open my heart and expand my understanding of exactly what happened in all those memories.
There’s a special place inside each and every one of us that never ages, where we feel how we felt all those years ago beyond a doubt, actually seeing it in our mind’s eye…like your dad’s rubber boots.
I’m glad you’ve joined us Patty, and thanx for your very wise words!
I wish I could answer that question, Dana. I’m amazed when FB decides to share an old memory with me and I see pictures of myself with baby grandkids who are now teens!
I guess it’s unanswerable!
As Judy Collins sang, “Who knows where the time goes?” She didn’t have an answer either but “come the storms of winter, and then the birds in spring again, I do not fear the time.“ And I have to agree that it has been a treat to share memories with fellow Retrospectors and to honor the passing years.
Yes Khati, sharing memories is a treat, and thanx for the uplifting Judy Collins lyric, she is someone who is growing older most graciously!
Dana, I have no sure answer to your question about the location of our missing years, but I wish I did! However, I have made a stab at capturing some of mine in the form of the memoir I’ve just finished. In fact, that was probably the driving force behind writing it. Once again I am reminded of the value of writing and the power of words. Also, like you, I find it fascinating that I can remember small details from my childhood, but not where I parked my car!
Thanx Jim! Yes indeed we know the value of writing!
Our little lifeboat on the sea of time does have a nice, congenial crew. Those years are just over the horizon. To windward, of course…
Thanx Dave for reminding us it’s the crew that makes the journey joyous, and that those years are not really gone, just windward!