The Word with Wayne Cox - Blue Frog Studios

Canada’s Hottest Live Recording Theatre.

The Word - Vol 20

5/13/2023

Don’t Blink

It’s Mother’s Day! A day set aside to honour Mom, and thank her for all her hard work over the year, and over the years, and of course for bringing you into this world.

If you’re fortunate enough to have your Mother with you on this special day, cherish the time you can spend with her, because that time goes by so quickly. My sisters and I lost our Mom 7 years ago this June. She was 91, and almost made it to 92. Some would say she lived a good long life, and she did, and we miss her and her wonderful sense of humour. Ninety-two years is a long time, but it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, a good reason to make every minute with Mom count. As the old proverb goes, “Time waits for no man.” Or woman!

Speaking of time flying by, I saw that Superstar Tina Turner will be 84 years old this year! 84! How did that happen? I started thinking about some of the other singers of the day, like Barbra Streisand who’s 81, Diana Ross, and Gladys Knight who are both 79. And, “when I’m 64,” Sir Paul McCartney will be 81 this year, and Ringo has already passed that mark, he’ll be 82!

I’m sure you remember, as I do, when Tina was strutting the stage, Barbra was belting out “People,” Diana Ross was a “Supreme” and Gladys was taking that “Midnight Train to Georgia.” It’s an old saying, but “It seems like only yesterday!”

Think about Y2K, the year 2000, when all the computers were going to crash. That was just a few years ago, right? That was over 23 years ago. Remember the party we had at Expo 86? When you do the math that was 37 years ago, but seems like only yesterday!

All of this brings back the lyrics of a song by Country artist Kenny Chesney called “Don’t Blink”. It was written by Casey Beathard and Chris Wallin. It’s a song about a 102-year-old man being interviewed on the TV News about life, and some of the lyrics talk about time going by so fast.

I’ll paraphrase, but here’s what the man says:

“Don’t blink! Just like that, you’re six years old and you take a nap, and you wake up,
and you’re twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don’t blink.
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did, turning into moms and dads.
Trust me friend, a hundred years goes faster than you think. So, don’t blink.”

Talk to anyone over the age of say, 50, 60, 70, or beyond, and I’m sure they’ll agree that time seems to be going faster than the blink of an eye. These days it seems to be a topic that often pops up when old friends get together for a coffee or a beer. You think of the ’60s or ’70s as, “just the other day” We remember the days when we were kids, they were sunny summer days that seemed to last forever. Your next birthday seemed like it would never arrive! Time moved along so slowly, at times it seemed to stand still, and now it just flies by.

Our oldest son will celebrate his 49th birthday tomorrow! How could that be? Where did those 49 years go? That baby came home from the hospital, and now in the blink of an eye, he’s a grown man closing in on 50 years on planet Earth with babies of his own. Wait, I’m too young to have a son who’s 50 years old! Apparently not!

I still can’t get it out of my head that Tina Turner and Paul McCartney are in their 80s.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could make the passage of time slow down? Even just a little bit? Well, it’s not going to happen, and time’s a-wastin’, so don’t let this Mother’s Day go by without telling Mom how much you love her, and how much she means to you, because time keeps on ticking, ticking!

And remember, ”Don’t Blink!”

Till next week...
Wayne