"What's he doing now?" I'm thinking as out of the corner of my eye I see over 6 feet of it's yellowness extended across the floor. Nope, he's not measuring the room. Yep, he's explaining something to the youngest, Ian. So, I listen in. Then, he draws me in with questions. "Oh, boy," I think with raised eyebrows.
Cousin Jack is always coming up with something thought provoking, or prankish. He loves to poke around in peoples brains and this is just one more instance.
"How long do you expect to live? The average is 75, isn't it?" He's looking down the length of the skinny aluminum with its one inch black markings and with his right thumb and index finger he pinches at 80 inches to stop its retraction.
I respond, "Well, the Bible says 3 score and 10, that's 70 years."
To Ian, while he indicates the 17 inch mark with his left hand, "You're about right here." Out of 7 feet exposed those 17 inches don't look like much. "You've this much time to do something," showing the expanse from 17 to 75; it's a goodly amount of time. "You're young, you have lots of energy."
Oh boy, then he looks at me, "You're how old, around 50 something?"
"Yes, Jack, I'm 59." While he pinches those left fingers at 59 the right fingers stay near 80 -- he lets 6 feet drop to the floor! Sheesh!
He gently pushes the tape forward toward me, it's only a foot, "You have this much time. Not much."
He continues, "And here you don't have the energy you had down there," pointing to the Ian mark. "The energy you have here, isn't near as much. Will you have time to get it done?"
Reality hits me. I get up to add my own finger indicator to the tape. "Here," and I point to 64, "is where my mother had a stroke and she was done."
We look at the little measure. It's like those little 6 inch elementary school rulers. Then we look at the length on the floor, and back to what he can practically hold in the palm of his two hands.
Nothing like reality hitting you between the eyes in bright living color in the hands of your innocent nephew in your very own family room.
Ian is chuckling. Cousin Jack is bright-eyed fascinated.
This young black haired, goateed whipper snapper raises his eyes to mine,
"What are you going to do? "
"You really don't have much time!"
August 2022
I recently came across this blog and via Facebook, sent it to Cousin Jack. He'd never read it before. 5 years have passed and our paths don't cross often. Here's what he had to say today:
My, oh my, how the time flies.... the truth is you don't actually know your length of tape do we? but the reality still stands, in the beginning you're boasting and bubbling with energy but as you age you learn more and more about life and what works and what doesn't, you learn the most effective ways to use your energy. That's the beauty of life, tomorrow could be doom or completely awe inspiring. So, what really lies next, the choice is yours!
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