Tempus Fugit: Thinking About the Tyranny of Forced ‘Joint’ Birthday ‘Celebrations’


Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s Tuesday, March 7, 2023 – two days after my 60th birthday and three days before my older half-sister Vicky’s 73rd. In the last decade of my mother’s life (2005-2015), this would have been the “compromise” date on which we’d celebrate both occasions. I say “compromise” because Vicky, for reasons thatContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Thinking About the Tyranny of Forced ‘Joint’ Birthday ‘Celebrations’”

Tempus Fugit: On the Occasion of My 60th Birthday


“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” ― Andy Rooney So, today I turn 60 years old. On the day I was born: “I’m not ready to let the youthful part of myself go yet. If maturity means becomingContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: On the Occasion of My 60th Birthday”

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Where Did the Time Go?


The Relentless Flight of Time Oh, my. Where did the time go? I swear. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were ushering in 2023, and…poof! Suddenly it’s February 28, the last day of the second month. And, on Sunday, March 5, I will go from being 59 years old to 60 yearsContinue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Where Did the Time Go?”

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Late Winter 1973 – Waiting, with Bated Breath, for the Big One-Oh


Things I Remember: February 1973 With just a bit over two weeks till my 60th birthday – date-wise it’s 15 days, but today is half-over – and with no clue as to what will happen on that day (I nixed a trip to a Disney park due to concerns about exposure to COVID-19), my thoughtsContinue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Late Winter 1973 – Waiting, with Bated Breath, for the Big One-Oh”

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): A (School) Day in the Life, February 1973


Well, Dear Reader, with less than 17 days until my 60th birthday, it’s time for (yet) another Tempus Fugit piece related to this landmark birthday. On this day in 1973, which fell on a Friday, I was at Tropical Elementary – more likely than not – in Mrs. Chambers’ Special Education class in Room 29.Continue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): A (School) Day in the Life, February 1973”

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Songs, Schedules, & Off-Campus Lunches…My High School Experience in February 1983


“I blinked my eyes and in an instant, decades had passed.” ― John Mark Green, Taste the Wild Wonder: Poems With less than 18 days before my 60th birthday – the first such recurrence of a “landmark” birthday since my mother’s death nearly eight years ago (and the ensuing physical as well as the emotionalContinue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Songs, Schedules, & Off-Campus Lunches…My High School Experience in February 1983”

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Then (1973) & Now (2023) Revisited


“We don’t really grow up. Our toys change with time.” ― Nitya Prakash In February of 1973 – around the same time that Sam Ervin, a Democratic Senator from South Carolina, was named Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee, and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark became the first Christian organization to officially accept gay marriageContinue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): Then (1973) & Now (2023) Revisited”

Counting Down to the ‘Big Six-Oh’ (With Some Ambivalence), or, The Year of Many Anniversaries


Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock: Countdown to the Big Six-Oh (And Other Anniversary Dates) Well, it’s late morning here in Lithia, Florida, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, which means I only have slightly less than 26 days until I say goodbye to my 50s and say hello to being 60 on March 5. As I’ve said in previousContinue reading “Counting Down to the ‘Big Six-Oh’ (With Some Ambivalence), or, The Year of Many Anniversaries”

Tempus Fugit: Then (1973) & Now (2023) – Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition


With the “Big Six-Oh” creeping ever closer – it is, as I write this, only 27 days away – I decided to do a comparison between Then (1973, the year I turned 10) and Now (2023, the year I turn 60). Without further ado (I’m fresh out of it), let’s begin! President of the UnitedContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Then (1973) & Now (2023) – Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition”

Tempus Fugit: Monday, February 5, 1973 – The Big One-Oh is Only Four Weeks Away (50 Years On)


Countdown to the Big Six-Oh As I write this in the late morning of Sunday, February 5, 2023, there are less than 28 days (four weeks!) until I leave my 50s – which, sadly, have not been as happy or fulfilling as I’d hoped – and turn 60. I am hoping that when March 5Continue reading “Tempus Fugit: Monday, February 5, 1973 – The Big One-Oh is Only Four Weeks Away (50 Years On)”