navylane :: musings

Today, while in the waiting room of my daughter’s doctor office, a friendly older man sparked up a conversation with me and my girls. After witnessing a few minutes of my daughters’ abundant energy, he smiled at his wife and said, “We’ve raised a few of those monsters ourselves.”

We talked about how kids grow up too fast, and he gave me a gentle reminder to enjoy these days while I can. As he began discussing daylight savings time with some of the others in the room, I couldn’t help but think of this couple and all they must have shared in their years together. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. Years and years of memories. Still together, still wearing bright, gentle smiles.

A nurse came over to give him some paperwork. I don’t know what she discussed with him, but I did notice his mood turned a bit more somber as she talked, like he was reminded once again of the bitter reality of why he was at the doctor.

As he and his wife got up to leave, he turned to me and said, “They say these are the golden years, but I’m here to tell you — they’re the rusty ones.”

Shown above: Have A Heart ATC. Ma Vinci script and alpha stamps. Watercolor crayons. Photo of my daughter. I cut a heart shape from acetate, applied alcohol inks, added scratches using my fingernail, then layered over a heart shape cut out from an old book.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 6th, 2005 at 1:10 pm and is filed under art cards (ATCs and ACEOs), randomness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.