Short Stories:

[ronbliss]

I awoke that morning, feeling really refreshed. I had just turned fifteen. I felt alive, eager and full of energy. There was so much to do in the world but right now all I really cared about was having a little fun. Tomorrow I will get serious.

I remember waking up that day. I lay there feeling refreshed and zestful. I thought, wow, tomorrow is my birthday and I will be twenty-five. I thought about how I didn’t feel much different than I did ten years ago. Inside I felt full of energy and eager. I was directing those efforts to my new job, my new wife and my new life.

It doesn’t seem like that much time had passed but I woke up this morning and realized I was thirty-five. Inside I feel just as young as I did ten years ago. I feel very youthful and full of energy. My spirit is soaring as I devote more time to my career and children. I am also getting involved in church work, as I want my children to be raised in the same home atmosphere, as was I.

Wow. I couldn’t believe ten years had gone by already but this morning when I woke up I realized I was forty-five. Time sure does fly. You know, it is hard to believe but inside I still have the exuberance of youth. I am so full of zest and I feel so alive. I am striving to get ahead in my job and my son is getting married next week. I need all that energy to balance my duties as husband, father and career builder.

No way. Ten years? Can’t be already. I looked at the calendar and it’s true. I am 55 today. Unbelievable. Oh well, there are things to be done and a life to be lived and fortunately, I still feel good inside. I feel youthful and full of energy. Now I had better get busy and spend some of that energy because there are so many things that need to be done.

I woke up this morning and felt really refreshed. Oh, yes, I had to get up a couple of times during the night but it is Saturday and I slept in. It was then the thought struck me. Sixty-five today. Seems like a few years ago that I was fifty-five. Ouch. My legs ache a bit this morning and my back is stiff. But, do you know what? Inside I still feel young. I really do. Now figure that out if you can. Chronologically I know how old I am but in my mind I feel like a kid of fifteen yet. My spirit soars and my heart sings but I now realize I am that kid, but I am trapped in a sixty-five year old body.

I woke up this morning in my recliner. I looked at the clock and it was nine-fifteen. Wow. How did I oversleep? Then I remembered I had so much pain in my legs and I couldn’t breath right so I got up about four in the morning and finished the night in the recliner. My wife was on the sundeck finishing her second cup of coffee. I got up and took about five steps to get straightened around and it was then I realize, today I am seventy-five. I have an excuse for my aches and pains. But why do I feel so young inside. I don’t feel like a seventy-five year old man. I feel youthful but my body won’t cooperate.

I don’t know how long that darned phone had been ringing. I heard it about six times sub-conscientiously before I became aware of it’s ringing. It took me four more times before I could get my mind adjusted and get it in my hand to say hello. It was my daughter and she was just calling to make sure I was all right. “Of course I am all right”, I said, “Why wouldn’t I be?” Well, she said she called too to wish me a happy birthday. “Is it my birthday”, I asked. “Let’s see, how old am I, oh yeah, 85.” I hung up and sat on the edge of the bed for sometime trying to focus on events of the recent past. My wife passed away last year and I haven’t felt one hundred percent since then. I reached for my walker and slowly made my way to the bathroom.

Later, as I sat drinking my coffee, I marveled at how young I felt in my mind and heart. Why I wondered, is my body wearing out so much faster than my heart, mind and spirit. I spent the better part of the morning reliving yesterday. Traveling back in time. I saw my youth. I saw my wife. She is so young and so pretty. This is the most enjoyable morning I have ever spent. So many memories.

It was then a stranger walked into my living room. I was startled. “Who are you”, I asked?
He looked at me with a genuine look of love and said, “Come, take my hand, its time to go home”.