I’m holed up in Charlotte this week at a conference/training for work. On ESPN Classic in the hotel right now is the SC vs Clemson game from November 2000, my freshman year in college. Fairly certain I watched this game live from my dorm room back in the day. As a result, my mind wonders back and can’t help to think where I was and what I was doing with my life. Feels as if I blinked and 18 years have passed by.

Simple math puts me at 36 years old, I’ve noticed over the last 3-4 years I’ve reminisced and found myself thinking of the “good old days” often. What are those moments for the rest of you where you stop for a few minutes and think, “damn, X amount of years ago I was doing...” I know music also does it for me. Not too many bands from the 90’s that I can’t hear and remember buying that CD or turning up the radio and remembering some great memories from a simple song.

I catch myself often telling the 22-25 year olds at work that it goes by fast and to enjoy it. I remember hearing the same advice when I was in their shoes. Can’t say I took their advice to heart. Fast forward today and I can’t help but to think I would have been wiser to enjoy those good old days.

Wait till you are in your 50s...

I had a lot of fun in my 20s and 30s, and it does not seem that long ago.

There was an oldies station that would play songs from the 50s and 60s when I was a kid growing up in the 80s.

About a year ago I went home for the holidays. The oldies station was still broadcasting, same name, same call sign, only now it was music from the 80s.

Ugh.

I do. But I like to think that my best days are still ahead of me (34).

I've had the luxury of knowing that I was seeing the end of an era in my life a couple of times. In fact, I just got back from a reunion with my old work unit down at the beach. I remember our last night working together before we were split up, knowing that things would never be the same. A complete style of policing prettymuch disappeared from existence overnight, though we didn't know it at the time. Best years of my career were defined with those guys, stories you wouldn't believe. Stories that might get one indicted these days.

But things bring me back. I'm a sentimental kinda guy.

It does go by fast. I messed up by growing up too fast myself.

Next week, if I'm spared, I'll be 72.

I have a great future behind me.

tac

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Next week, if I'm spared, I'll be 72.

I have a great future behind me.

tac

Sir, I hope there are some great experiences in front of you also, and the rest of us as well!

There is some truth the the statement 'youth is wasted on the young'. Coupled with 'ignorance is bliss'.

But all told I have 'no ragrets' as I approach 50.

I just find myself WORRYING alot more nowadays.

About my kids. My spouse. My church friends. My country. My job / business.

I wish sometimes I could flip the 'carefree' switch. It is fun to reminisce though. Had a great friend over for dinner during Christmas. We were young officers together back in the early 90s. We cracked some of the same jokes from back then and had a blast.

It's all good though. Doing quite well and the future is where my head needs to be.

-------------------------------------------

It hit me at the end of 2014 when I returned from AFG.

I started applying to various Police Depts I always wanted to apply to and they all told me that I was past their hiring age of 40-44.

I find it amusing that I can recall every lyric from some late 90s grunge tune, but cannot for the life of me recall what I was in the kitchen for.

For me it was my 25th reunion. I remember thinking "it can't be 25 years since high school; because that would mean I'm . . . shit, it is."

I was in a retro vinyl (I.E. record) shop not too long ago, walking down the aisles and reminiscing.

Didn’t feel ancient until I came upon a pretty 19 year-old young lady putting the latest used albums into their respective music categories.

As I walked by she stuffed ELO’s (Electric Light Orchestra) “Out of the Blue” album in the “Classical Music” category.

I said politely, Excuse me, but I think you have that album in the wrong section- that’s ELO.

She stared at me through purple hair and rolled her eyes and said “ORCHESTRA... duh”...

quote:

Originally posted by bionic218:
I find it amusing that I can recall every lyric from some late 90s grunge tune, but cannot for the life of me recall what I was in the kitchen for.

For me it was my 25th reunion. I remember thinking "it can't be 25 years since high school; because that would mean I'm . . . shit, it is."

1. Yup to short term memory.

2. My 50th HS reunion will be this year. I have a perfect attendance record for HS reunions. Never have, never will.

34 here. I think about it as well but realize other than squandering a lot of high school and my first 2 years of college, I did more than most. Having a 3 year old and another on the way, I have no more time to think, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Next week, if I'm spared, I'll be 72.

I have a great future behind me.

tac

I’m 72. The older I get the better I was.

Back in '98, I was 50 & the Rolling Stones were relegated to the Oldies channel.

I like this quote by Douglass Adams:

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”

Having my 50 year high school class reunion this year - and all I can think is, "Where did the time go?" I don't feel old, but I do realize how blessed I have been - certainly far beyond anything I've earned or deserved. God is just so good. Anxious to continue with lots of "firsts" in my life with no regrets about the "lasts"!!

73 this year. If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

Now in my early 60s. I find myself thinking back to the women that have passed through my life. And what may have transpired had I spent more time with each one.
Hindsight is 20/20. And unrelenting too.

quote:

Originally posted by TBH:

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Next week, if I'm spared, I'll be 72.

I have a great future behind me.

tac

Sir, I hope there are some great experiences in front of you also, and the rest of us as well!

Thnak you, Sir. I really do appreciate that comment.

tac

Me and my sibling
Up until I was 49 , I almost never looked back , I was way too busy doing the stuff we wanted too. working and enjoying what we could share together. Our thoughts were concerned with where we would go, what to see and how to enjoy it.

My sibling on the other hand worked as hard as he could to plan for his retirement years, he did very very well at that and raised three fine boys at the same time.

At 74 , now he travels every month to spend time with his kids and their families, and winters in Alabama for a couple of months.

We both have 49 years of memories , they are just differant