It is almost October 10th. A holiday in my house. October 10th, 48 years ago, I got the call that I had been hired at Southern Illinois University. A life-changing event. Things got better, and they continue to get better, nearly 50 years after that momentous event.

So, we have arrived at fall with more hot weather than we like. The leaves are falling with many colors. Each day, it dawns on me that I have become an Old Man. I am determined to not give in to the aches and pains. However, the senior status does have its advantages. Some folks are a bit deferential. At times I think they must think me older than I am.

I keep pondering time. Seemingly simple it is complex. `People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion,’ Einstein said. ‘No Universal Now. ‘ Relativity proves that there is no absolute universal ‘present’ moment; whether an event happens in the past, present, or future depends on the observer’s motion and position.’

‘Interesting thoughts on Halloween eve,’ Chet mused. ‘Have we been here before…do our lives travel the same circuit…or are we a bit different each revolution of the turntable?’ Chet asked. ‘Here we are around the Friday Night October Campfire with our future before us and our past behind us…our present is joyful in the crisp fall air, the smell of woodsmoke and the sweetness of life… s’mores…the thought of monsters who will give us a happy chill up our spines,’ Chet laughed. ‘ We are speaking of a change in direction in our country…how can we televise an execution and believe we follow a loving God?’ Chet asked.

‘Didn’t we have this conversation before?’ Billy B asked. ‘I dreamed I was on a carousel; it circled over and over…the people watching looked older as the years went by…then they looked young again,’ Billy B said with wide-eyed wonderment.