In a Blink of an Eye

Wow, in 30+ years of marriage, a lot has happened.   Met the love of my life, married her, and bam! Here it is 2015!

We lived in rental housing for a couple of years, then with the advent of "bond money" at the low rate of 10.78% and the help from some fantastic inlaws, we bought and moved into our first house!

Early years are always a struggle.  We paid the inlaws back, we paid off student loans, and paid off the car loans.  Wow!  Now we are rich, with all this extra money!  What to do, what to do???

Remember that old song "first comes love, then comes marriage, then momma pushing a baby carriage!  Yep, along comes our first born Matthew.  A few years later we were blessed with Morgan.

And that supply of new found monthly wealth?  Well now, gotta have a new car every so often.  Don't  forget, it's time to put more away for retirement!   Before you know it, those boys will be going off to college, so begin to save,  save, save!

Oh no!  Just out grew the house.  Time to upsize!  Move to a new developing subdivision.  Guess what, no cable TV and no money for one of those big ole satellite dishes!  At least we had a vhs vcr and a dozen Barney tapes for Morgan!  Barney, over and over again!

Now that you are parents, we gotta give our boys what we didn't have.  Annual trips to the amusement parks here we come!  The look on Matthew's face after his first loop de loop roller coaster.

Next would be our biggest investment of our lives following the bouncing balls!  Tball and buddyball for both, and guess who ends up coaching!  Then there's that sport you never played, soccer!    Seems nobody understands this sport, phone rings, "Bill if you don't  coach it, twelve kids will no have the opportunity to play", said by my good friend John Everett!  What the hell did I just sign up for???

Oldest enters middle school.  "Dad, I'm  joining the school band, and I'm gonna play the saxophone."
Does the school provide the horn?  You guessed it!  No problem, the easy payment plan!

Time to get involved again!  Band boosters here we come!  They need a treasurer, no problem, I'm  your guy.   Need money?  No problem!  Fund raisers here we come!  Concession stand operations become a full time part time job.  Good friend, a food broker, donates 500 pounds of precooked chicken breasts  that a customer said was the wrong flavor!  Where do you store 500 lbs?  Everywhere! Another connection donated 200 lbs of chicken wings!  Band boosters from other schools could not figure out how we could sell this for $3!  Glad I was sworn to secrecy!  Amazing the money you can raise with a winning football team!

Youngest was a repeat of the first.  I'm now an old pro at tball and buddy ball.  And I'm also an old pro at the game of soccer!   Coach him for four years.  Then "Dad, I wanta play select soccer!"  Yea! No longer a coach, just a supportive dad!  Then it hits you!  Another name for select soccer is "pay ball".  Pay to play, then pay for gas, hotel rooms, and restaurants $$$$!

Third year in, son doesn't make his club team when four teams eventually are culled down to 2.  Surprise of a lifetime!  My best friend David's son and Morgan are picked up by CJSO, the Jackson Metro all black soccer team!  These two were the cream filling in the oreo!  The team was long on talent, but short on players.   Magic happens!  This team wins the State two years in a row!   Money spent, best investment ever!

Oldest off to College.  Glad we began saving early!  Son graduates from USM debt free!  Diploma confirms he made it!

Youngest decides he wants to attend MSMS his junior and senior years of high school.  The school is in Columbus, MS.  Empty nest two years early.  He decides to play h.s. soccer at MSMS.  All games over 1.5 hours away.  We're old pros at this, didn't miss a game!   Met some wonderful kids and parents from all over the State.  Even did a bit of fundraising here too!  Money went to parent support group for extras for these kids that were missing on a normal school life.

Youngest now a senior at MSU.  This fall will be our victory lap of having his Rebel momma attend a game or two, and even ringing her own cowbell.  He too, will graduate debt free.  The gift from his momma and me!

In the blink of an eye, all the above has come and gone.  The hair is all grey, and the waistline has gotten bigger.  We can no longer handle a week long stay in our second home in Orlando at WDW and Universal.  The muscles and joints just don't bounce back like they used to.  We have found our new heaven in the sands of the Florida Panhandle.  The boys hearts have been stolen away by two gals.

Maybe by the next blink, there will have been wedding bells and pink and blue baby guessing parties.  Hoping one day some youngins are calling  me Pop!

But hey!  We ain't there yet!  One of the girly friends has me planning a group trip back to Orlando this fall for the Disney Not so Scarey Halloween event.  They will be double dipping with Universal's Fright Night, while the.spousal unit and I enjoy a lazy river float!

It's hard to believe that 30 years have past.  Redo and change a thing or two?  No way!  All this time was spent with the three loves of my life.  Guess I just need to figure out how to blink slower....

For those of you that haven't blinked yet, figure it out early.  Save fore retirement.   Save for kids college education.  Spend your time with those that you love.  The good times and those memories are your reward!

And just try not to blink!