I WANT A DO-OVER

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter… ©

I recall Woody Allen saying that life is miserable and tragic and awful and some other words that mean the same thing, then adding,  “…and it is over much too quickly.”

That’s the dilemma, isn’t it? There is a lot of life that is at least unpleasant, and quite a bit that is downright gut-wrenching, yet we don’t want to let it go.

I started a poem this morning, something like Where did it go so fast… and then realized I had nothing more to add. It has just gone by so quickly, and there is so little left.

Oh, I know all the bromides we use. There’s plenty of time left. The trick is to concentrate on the moment. You can still be happy, even though all your friends are dying. The world needs more old curmudgeons. It takes a lot of courage to be the last apple left on the tree. Big whoop!

I don’t want to be the last apple. I want all the other apples to hang out there with me. I don’t want the present moment, I want all the past moments so I can do them over, better this time.

That, however, is not going to happen.

I really tried to be a good son and brother and friend and husband and father and grandfather and pastor and citizen. Some people are kind enough to say I did fairly well at those. I know it to be true, sort of. I’d love to have a do-over, though. That’s one of the reasons we adore grandchildren, I think. They give us a do-over possibility. Now, though, my grandchildren are out living their own lives, like that’s what we raised them for, or something.

That’s the nature of life. Put on your long pants and deal with it.

Big whoop. Or big fat hairy deal, as we said in the olden days. That may be the way life is, and there’s nothing we can do to change it, but I still don’t like it.

Don’t worry. I’m not depressed. I just want a do-over!

John Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP], where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]

I tweet as yooper1721.