Day 98: Time traveling

We were on our way home from the day care center, my grandson and I. The sky had turned a steely gray, and huge fluffy snowflakes had begun to pelt the windshield. In that brief moment, the drab landscape was transformed.

Staring at the sky, I was transported to a place I knew well. The sky that day, some 50 years ago, was a similar shade of gray. I was in my bed, home sick for the day, sitting up and getting ready to color in a coloring book.

I could see the sky -- and the snow -- from my bed, and what I remember most about that moment is that everything seemed just right. The crayons still had their sharp tips. The coloring book had lots of fresh pages waiting to be colored in. And it was snowing, with the deep gray sky promising lots more to come.

Back to January 2010. The snow squall went as quickly as it had come, leaving barely a dusting on the pavement. The sun was getting close to the horizon, and the little boy in the car seat behind me had grown quiet as he gazed out the window. Maybe he was thinking about the snow, or maybe he was planning what he would do when he got home.

And maybe someday, years from now, a snow squall and a steely gray sky will transport him back in time to this moment with me and a time when life seemed, in that one moment, just right.

Day 86: Thou shalt not covet

I was standing in line at the grocery store today when two women who looked to be well into their 50s got in line behind me. The first thing they put on the conveyor belt was some chocolate almond ice cream, followed quickly by two 12-packs of beer and some serious-looking red meat.

I, with my skyrocketing cholesterol, could care less about the beer. I could even pass up the red meat. But the ice cream -- well, that's another story.

I'd love a dish of chocolate ice cream right now, but I don't dare. I wondered as I waited in line if those two women were blessed, as some of my siblings are, with naturally low cholesterol. Or maybe the women had long since decided to quit worrying about the impact their dietary habits were having on their health.

All of which left me wondering if there will ever come a time when I can eat what I want to eat -- say, when I'm pushing 90.

Maybe in 30 years they'll have found a way to make nonfat ice cream taste like the real deal.

Day 73: Time is not on my side

There's nothing like a trip home to the place where you were born and raised to remind you that time marches on. And on.

At a church in Oberlin, Ohio, on the Sunday after Christmas, I happened to see a woman I've known since I was 5 or 6. In fact, we were in school together straight through high school.

The thing is, when I first saw her -- and had not yet recognized her -- I assumed she was much older than me. But then, I've been assuming most people I are older than I am for a very long time. I really need to look in the mirror more often.

Spending time with my four older brothers was the other big reminder that time is marching relentlessly on. Of the five of us, my oldest brother and I have the fewest health problems. (But then, we're also the only two who didn't smoke.) Seeing my other brothers cough, wheeze and move slowly so as not to aggravate their aching joints was a little depressing. I kept telling myself I won't be like that in five or 10 years.

Meanwhile, I broke out the mini-trampoline yesterday and have been watching my saturated fats. Which I guess means that I've finally decided to make some changes instead of sitting back and taking whatever the passage of time throws at me.