Milestones

Recently, I had a lot of "alone" time as I was driving by myself from Texas to Wisconsin and back again.  I used MapQuest, the Garmin, road signs and my odometer to see how many miles I had gone and how many miles I had to go to my destination each day.  I used these instruments as my "milestones - A stone marker set up on a roadside to indicate the distance in miles from a given point."  And as I drove alone, I thought of other "milestones - An important event or turning point in one's history or career." 

My first milestone in life, that I remember, was turning six years old so that I could go to school.  My school did not have kindergarten.  Although I enjoyed school, in my teens I couldn't wait until I graduated from high school and could then go to college.  In college, I eagerly awaited turning 21 years so that I could legally drink.  After college, it was time to eagerly awaiting getting married and that was a long wait!  Are you sensing a trend here....me waiting for the next milestone?

For some reason, I have a habit of looking into the future and eagerly waiting certain milestones that I have designated for me.... 50th birthday (celebrated with a good old-fashioned picnic and children's games); 62nd birthday (eligible for Social Security benefits); retirement; and now I'm eagerly awaiting 65th birthday so I can get on Medicare. 

Yikes!  What then?  Death!  Oh, I feel that I'm in trouble here and I feel sad.  I have been waiting for my life to go by so I could get to the next milestone and IT HAS!  I'm on a roller-coaster going down hill and it's FAST!  It was so evident on  this trip  up North when I saw my siblings (now three of us over sixty) and nieces and nephews in their 30's.  My only living maternal aunt is 90 and my dad's four living siblings are all over 80  now.  Where did the time go?  I have been so eager to hit those milestones that I have gotten  old, but now I don't like it very much.  The years have flown by, no matter how much I thought they had dragged on and on. 

Don't get me wrong....I've had a very fulfilling life....good career and lots of traveling.  Now, it's time to rein in this roller-coaster life and slow down a bit.  It may be time to re-set my priorities.  It may be time to realize that whatever time I have left in life, I will explore and expand my horizons.  Who knows, maybe that "roller-coaster" does not end at the bottom of that hill...maybe it goes up again so I can experience more thrills in my life.  I only have today, tomorrow is not promised, and yesterday is full of wonderful memories.