Lately, I have been doing some deep thinking about the swift passage of time.
I mention this because of some of the deaths that have happened over the last month. I am pointing in particular to the passing of singer Whitney Houston, Davy Jones of the Monkees and Kim Meisel.
You recognize the first two, but not Kim Meisel. Kim was our shaggy-haired computer guy, always available as the go-to guy to fix any issues we had with our computers, of which there were always many.
We still miss him around here. Kim died of cancer early in February, and a lot of us from the office were at his funeral in Denholm to pay our respects.
We knew of Kim as the computer guy, but outside the office there was this whole other side of him- such as his love for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
A lot of his motorcycle-loving friends were also at the funeral, telling stories about him. In fact, it was an overflow crowd. It was quite a tribute.
Whenever I go to a funeral or hear about the passing of someone famous, I end up reflecting on how time is flying by too darn fast and how important it is to make the most of what time you do have.
I was reflecting on that again after I heard of Whitney Houston's passing just prior to the Grammy awards being handed out. Now, I can't say I was particularly a Whitney Houston fan, but she was one of my contemporaries.
I really came of age in the 1980s and '90s. These were my decades, and my generation. Hearing about the death of someone so prominent in music during that time just makes me feel old.
My reaction was the same when Michael Jackson died. He wasn't simply a superstar in the '80s; in many respects, he was the '80s.
Now Whitney is gone, too. It's as if the '80s died along with both of them.
Last week, we heard the news Davy Jones of the Monkees had passed away suddenly at age 66. That was another case where those of us who grew up on their songs and TV shows were reminded of the passage of time.
Then again, those of the '60s generation have become accustomed to a flood of bad news like this over the years, going back to when John Lennon died. Still, the Monkees TV show is fresh in my mind. This is yet another grim reminder of how quickly time has flown.
Whenever I hear news of some pop-culture icon who passes away, particularly someone whose shows I grew up watching on TV, the news always gives me pause to reflect.
Then, after I make all the usual resolutions to improve my own health, I end up reflecting on the things I either missed out on or haven't gotten around to doing all these years.
Last month I ranted about winter vacation getaways and all the travel horror stories out there. It just dawned on me recently that I haven't travelled outside Canada or the United States in something like 28 years. I really should rectify that situation, soon.
Another thing I have been doing more lately is catching up on old TV shows. The other day I was combing through old episodes of a show I used to watch regularly - the TV movie review show Siskel and Ebert. There's a website that hosts several of their old shows.
Watching those shows brought back a lot of memories, but recently I tuned into one of their shows from about 20 years ago that I didn't remember seeing.
Then it hit me - it aired during a particular three-year stretch of time in university when the workload and the professors' demands were so great I had to spend literally every waking moment on my studies.
The only TV I ever watched during that time was Johnny Carson and David Letterman late at night. I had no time for Siskel and Ebert or any other things I liked to do, because my whole life consisted of hitting the books.
One of my professors had an expression: "time is the enemy." He used that phrase often, because there was all this material he needed to get through in a 90-minute lecture.
You could say the same thing about life.
The older I get, the more I think of that phrase, and about all the things I haven't seen or done, yet, that I really should get around to enjoying before it's too late.
I can't say I'm into Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but I really should travel some more and catch up on more movies and TV shows. A good start might be using some of those vacation days owed to me - days I haven't used up yet because I never take my own advice.
I've always put off my own interests because I never have enough money or am too busy meeting educational or work demands, or am otherwise trying to get ahead. I really should do less working and some more living.
On a happier note, there's another phrase associated with time that is more positive. It is "time heals all wounds."
It was a year ago this month that I broke my arm on the job on a slippery March day. It was a long recovery, but thanks to doctors and some good physical therapy, here I am a year later with my arm all healed up.
Maybe time is not the enemy, at least not all the time.
