The Summer in my Rear View Mirror (standard:humor, 905 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Nov 08 2009	Views/Reads: 3118/1910	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I awoke last Tuesday with a strange feeling I had missed something. Not only that, but I was shivering like a polar bear without his pajamas. I knew something was wrong but to put my finger on it was just too early in the morning for me. I like starting m

I awoke last Tuesday with a strange feeling I had missed something. Not
only that, but I was shivering like a polar bear without his pajamas. I 
knew something was wrong but to put my finger on it was just too early 
in the morning for me. I like starting my days slowly. At my age just 
getting up is quite an accomplishment. 

I felt my forehead to see if I had a fever. I found my forehead easily
enough, just above my eyes, but I can never tell if I am hot, cold or 
lukewarm. 

The condition advanced to such a point that I had to swallow my pride
and inquire of the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. She can look at 
me and tell me if I am sick or not. Usually, I'm sick. 

So I approached her and said, "Am I sick or what?" 

Quick as a wink she said, "Off the top of my head I would say you are
‘or what.'" 

And this was just the beginning of my day. 

Then my wife looked at me and said, "Why do you ask?" 

So I explained to her about the feeling I had that something was missing
and on top of that, I could not quit shivering. She felt my forehead to 
see if I had a fever, and I did not. When she turned her back on me, I 
was tempted to stick out my tongue and say "AHH." 

"Well," she said, "you're not sick and I don't understand how you could
be cold." 

I looked aimlessly out the window and began to shiver more. "It looks
like it's cold out there," I complained. 

My wife looked at me with one of those looks that every husband knows
and fears, and said, "It should be cold outside, its winter, for Pete's 
sake." 

"Winter?" I explained. "What happened to summer?" 

"Oh you silly boy," my wife chuckled, "summer's over and winter's
brewing." 

I just stared out the window at the bleakness of the morning, wondering
where in the world summer went. At the moment, it did not seem possible 
to me that summer was over. Is not that the way things go? Just as soon 
as you get used to something, it is over. 

I suppose it is because a person gets so busy doing mundane daily things
that he fails to see the whole picture. If you do not enjoy what you 
are doing right now, one day you will look back and wonder where in the 
world it disappeared. 

At my age, it seems that looking back has become quite a career. I
remember the old folks when I was young used to say, "I remember the 
good old days." I often wondered what they were talking about. Now I 
know. 

When I was young, my whole life was looking forward, but now that I am
old, I spend part of my time looking at the rearview mirror. That is 
the wonderful advantage of getting older. When you are young, you do 
not have anything to look back to. The older you get the more you have 
to look back on. 

Several things I look back to. One is memories I have made throughout
the years. Often when my wife are setting together one of us will say, 
"Do you remember when...?" Then one of us will recite a wonderful 
memory from the past and have a good laugh together. 

Maybe this is why older people laugh so much. I know it is why I laugh a
lot. 

One of the wonderful things about a person's memory is that it is
personal. I will not say that I enhance my memories, of course, I do 
but I will not confess to it. Then, if it is my memory I should be able 


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