Published: November 07, 2009 01:02 am      

DAY: A day in the life

Is time going by too fast?

It seems to me that the older I get, the shorter the day is. And the nights are for the birds, as I have to fight my way to sleep.

Many times this old man has gotten up to get a cup of coffee.

I have terrible background hearing, and I can hear the cars and trucks rolling down the bypass. If a car door is closed within a block of our home, I hear it.

Getting up in the morning, I look like I have aged another year over night. Washing my hands, and then combing my hair, I take another good look at this old man and I see a little promise. Maybe a good shave will do it.

But then if I have to go somewhere in the next two or three days, I will have to shave again. So shaving is out for this day, and I head out to the kitchen to put on the coffee pot and maybe have a piece of toast with it.

But then it won’t be long before I have to fix a meal, so the toast is out. I am one of those guys who eats one meal a day and maybe a snack later on. So that means I have to fix our meals so that I won’t be too hungry before bedtime. It always seems like I fix more than we will eat, so we save what is left as leftovers for the next day.

Leftovers are good with things added to them to make them tastier. And that means that dishes have to be cleaned and put away and the kitchen cleaned up because clumsy old me is always dropping something on the floor.

After getting that work done I sit down to watch a little TV with my lady, and that makes me sleepy. If I don’t get up right away, I will fall asleep. And there is part of my day lost and not returnable. So I waddle on over to the computer and start reading my mail, going to several sites to get the news and maybe work on my Web pages.

For the last nine years, I have done the Web page featuring our Kokomo Lady Wildkats. This year will be our 10th season. I like working on that site, and visit some of the sites made by our friends. And while I am working on the computer, time is really going by fast and many times, I have used the rest of the day doing it.

My brother, Russell, who lives two houses over, is always doing work in my yard, and that leaves me time to do my work inside the house along with taking care of my pretty lady who has been ill for several years. It isn’t long before it gets dark, and we watch a few shows on television before going to bed where, once again, I fight myself to sleep.

There are some nights when I go to sleep right after the news, and that is good. But the other times I toss and turn trying to find that comfortable spot to lie, resulting in lost sleep and my coffee being used up. So I wonder if it is just me, or is it that time is going so fast we don’t have a chance to catch up?

Maybe this old man is doing something wrong. Maybe I should eat a good breakfast and a late dinner, so that I can do my computer time in between and maybe drink an extra coffee during the day.

Coffee for me seems to soothe my soul and body, and it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra cup. Back in my working days, I drank about eight cups of coffee daily and it never kept me awake. Some say that caffeine is hard on the heart, but for me it works differently. Oh well, tomorrow is another day, so bring it on.

• Ray “Uncle Ray” Day is a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at uncleray@earthlink.net or 765-457-3819.