‘Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.’ Labor Day is less than a week away. Five weeks until Maine. Ten weeks until election day. Fifteen weeks until Christmas Eve. The Locomotive is chugging down the track jump onboard.

Life is a Countdown. Johnny Cash told us, from the cradle to the grave. Along the way are many notable stations. Often it is what appears the less remarkable that is the most memorable. The little things make the difference.

If I was Citizen Brooks my last words might be Laughing Santa instead of Rosebud. Christmas was real in the merry eyes of the little stuffed Santa with a wind-up laughing box in his belly.

Aaron swinging in his little swing.

Jonathon climbs out of his cradle.

The call from Mickey that I had been hired at SIU.

The Happy Eyes of a person I hired for a wonderful career. How it felt to offer opportunity to someone unseen.

‘Hit the deck you rubberneck,’ and love it!

Riding on Dad’s shoulders.

The look of love in MJ’s eyes when everyone is at the Thanksgiving table.

Memories are snapshots of life.

When you are a kid you will be a kid forever. When you are middle-aged there is nothing else. When you are old you know it is just the beginning…