Faster every year

Shopping on Wednesdays is slower. It is senior citizen day. It seems I am recognized as a fellow traveler. This is a good thing.

The woman

In the motorized cart

Told me

My birthday is in two days.

I will be 79.

It’s hard to grow old

Oh…

But you must know this too.

I said

I do

But I also know it’s important

To claim every year.

Yes

She said

They go so fast now.

Yes

I said

Faster every year.

Years and years

This is not a haiku, in the traditional 5-7-5 form, but then again 5-7-5 is an approximation anyway. I was going to write more, but this seemed to sum it up.

So many things take years and years.

All the while

We want it now.

Birthday nap

Today is my beloved's birthday, nigh on our daughter's high school graduation, nigh on my unscheduled seizure activity.  This is the year we are officially past anything that resembles middle age.

He takes his birthday nap,

The cat ensconced.

This is the year

The concept of middle age

Flies out the window,

Creeps out the door.

This is the year we launch

Our daughter.

This is the year

We realize we don’t live to be

One hundred twenty.

This is the year

We realize

Just so much

Will fit

And no more

Except there is always room

For a birthday nap

And a cat.

Number change

Grateful for a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year.  Sitting here in the warm watching it snow.

Today marks the new year

Even as every day begins

A new year,

Except this time

The number changes.

The world is covered

In snow.

It hangs heavy

On the trees.

We,

Barely risen

To greet

This new world,

Sit warm inside

Watch the numbers

Change.