It’s time to take a deep breath, splash some cold water on your face and sprint towards the finish line because 2025 is not far down the track. I find that astonishing.

I can remember when I was a senior in high school at a pep rally. A freshman was holding up the sign that read, ‘Class of 1986 Rules!” I thought to myself ‘my gosh 1986, that’s never going to get here.’ Well obviously, that passed more than just a few years ago. As a child, I felt like there were ten years between Christmas Days. It seemed a lifetime before jolly St. Nick would squeeze down my chimney again. Now that I’m sixty-one, Christmas is here before I know it.

I’ve gotten a kick out of watching one of my neighbors with their yard signs over the last few months. Initially, they had an inflatable ghost holding a ‘Happy Halloween’ sign in their front yard bouncing around in the wind. The day after Halloween was over, the ghost was replaced with a large inflatable turkey holding a sign that read ‘Happy Thanksgiving.’ The day after Thanksgiving, Tom the Turkey was deflated and up went a massive snowman holding a ‘Merry Christmas’ sign. Last night, I noticed the snowman had been replaced with an inflatable sign that read “Happy New Year!’ They have not missed a beat, and I think that’s great. Their yard signs have become a warning shot for me of what holiday is up next. I have no doubt they have a red inflatable heart with ‘Happy Valentines Day’ written on it stored in the garage ready to be inflated.

I’ve attended sixty-two Christmas days in my lifetime, if I’m lucky I can get in twenty more. So, if you do the math, it’s nearly over for me and there’s not much time left. Here is what I am learning about getting old, some of the days can be really long – even some of the weeks – but the months and the years fly by at warp speed. Time picks up speed the older I get.

My brother and I were talking about how fast time flies, and he made the comment that he can’t remember his fifties at all. It is a total blur to him, and I feel exactly the same way. We decided it was because our kids were heavily involved in athletics, school functions, getting their driver’s license, going on their first date, heading off to college, etcetera. That decade was all about our kids growing up and discovering themselves. As parents, our kids were our focus, and it was great. They needed us then more than ever, even though they did not act like it!

By no means was it wasted time – love is never wasted time.

My brother and I both agreed that when we look back over our lives, the tough times seem to have disappeared, and what we remember the most are the good times. I’m glad life is like that.

As the year 2025 approaches, I still have an exceptionally long ‘To Do List.’ I want to know more than I know now, and the only way I can do that is by learning and trying new things. I have no plans to jump out of an airplane or swim with the sharks, I simply plan to keep on grinding and striving for what I want my life to look like a year from today. That’s plenty.

Halloween kicked off the holiday season with spooky costumes and kids cramming their faces with candy. No real reason for that season, but it is fun. Then came Thanksgiving Day, a time to reflect on all the blessings in life and to be thankful for them. Shortly thereafter, Christmas Day shows up. A time to celebrate the birth of a Savior and focus more on giving rather than receiving.

If that is not enough, then comes New Years’ Day. A time to look back over the previous year and learn from mistakes, vowing not to repeat them in the new year. Now is the time to plan a celebratory future and waste no time on foolish things. There really is no time to spare, it takes growing old to understand that.

I’m thinking maybe it’s time I get a little selfish in 2025, not in a negative way, but a year where I spend a little more time and money on myself and not so much on others. Is that a bad thing? I think my kids would be okay with that; they know my family is always first.

Oh, I almost forgot, Valentine’s Day is just six weeks away. Here we go again!

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].