Yesterday, about 4:30 in the afternoon, I remembered what day it was. So, I picked up the phone.
After a couple of rings, this deep voice answered. "Hello?"
Out of my mouth came the words 'Happy Birthday. How does it feel to be twenty?"
"Pretty good, I guess," said the person at the end of the line.
Good. Good? GOOD, you said. "You know what, it makes me feel old," I said half-mockingly. I stress the word half.
A little backstory is required here. Twenty years and one day ago, Blake was born in Tennessee. His grandparents and I went to the same Church, and after a little while, I ended up toting him around, putting him on my shoulders, and being big brother / uncle. It was a role that I truly cherished. I had been around babies before, but this was the first time that I can say that I was around one from the beginning. I even got to announce his playing in a couple high school football games, and referred to him as his nickname, "Bacon." But, it was really a neat experience. I'm not trying to claim myself as a father figure---his grandpa, Kenny Gibbs does quite well in that regard----both to him and me,as a second or third father. But it was with mixed emotions that I recognized that milestone yesterday. Being 20 is better than not being, but does that mean I am (doing the math) 37 instead of 17 now? I guess that it does!
Time is an interesting thing. Growing up a fan of TV, I was always amazed by the 20-year run of Gunsmoke, which ran on CBS from 1955-1975. My mother was barely a teenager, and my father only ten when the show debuted, and when Matt Dillon knocked off the last villian in Dodge City, they had a child of their own----who's typing these words now......I used to think two decades was a very long time......Now, I am rethinking that process. In a couple months from now, Blake--the 20 year old---will walk down the aisle. Big Brother, Uncle Chuck, whatever I am......I hope that I'm there on May 14 to see it. But you know what, time will catch up. Before he knows it, he'll be celebrating twenty years as a husband, And, by that time I'll be 5.....Well, friends and neighbors, it's about time to wrap this one up!
