Where does the time go? (or time flys when you're having fun!)

Ever stop and look at where you are in life and wonder how the hell you got there? If you are of a certain age, I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. It didn't seem long ago that you were a kid, or you were in college, or your kids were babies, or you were the new kid on the job, or you were a newlywed. You remember things that happened years ago as if they were yesterday and then there are other things that you should clearly remember, but you don't!

It's hard for me to believe that it was 34 years ago earlier this month that I started working at WABC Radio. Now I know I have had a lifetime of experiences there, worked with hundreds of folks over the years, been to some incredible places because of the radio station or the people I've worked with and have probably forgotten as many of my experiences as I remember, but 34 years?? No way I'd say except I can clearly look at my ABC ID card and see a hire date of 8/7/76. Wow...where did the time go?

Then there's the luckiest day of my life! Late next month, Susie and I will celebrate 31 years of married bliss. 31 years since that fateful day in September, 1979 that we both said, "I do" and started on life's greatest adventure. It's really hard to believe that we have been married for more than half our lives (well, way more in Susie's case) but we have. The houses we've lived in, the cars we've owned, the places we've vacationed, the people we've met and the things we've both forgotten are all a testament to the years we've been together. It's still hard to get my head around being married for 31 years. On one hand it seems like an unfathomable length of time, on the other it seems like a blink of the eye!

Lets not even talk about the kids! Seems like just yesterday that our first born Billy was less than 24 hours old and thought my nose was something to suck on for nourishment. Well, it may seem like yesterday, but early in November it will be 28 years! How did this little baby grow into the man he is today? Where did the years go from the days we stood out at soccer games, or traveled Long Island for Marching Band Competitions, or journeyed to Parents Weekends at college? And then there are the twins, Krissi and Kenny. From 2 tiny preemies who spent weeks in neonatal intensive care to the two 23 year old adults they are today happened in a flash. There are lots of moments you remember along the way (little league and soccer games, school plays, more marching band competitions, softball games, and lots of chauffeuring) but overall the years have disappeared. We've been very fortunate to share so many wonderful moments of their lives with the 3 of them, but still the years flew by and sometimes you just have to look at your adult children to believe how many years have passed!

I remember talking to a good friend a number of years ago about what the future held for us Baby Boomers. We were both about the same age and had parents who were the same generation and I made the point that we would never be as old as our parents, no matter what age we lived to be. That was because there was a huge gap between the way our parents grew up and the way we grew up and that difference made them grow up a lot sooner than we had. I felt that we Baby Boomers would always feel like kids, no matter how old we were! So far, I think my theory is true and as we get older I think we are indeed younger than our parents' generation were at our age. Perhaps that might partially explain why we still feel like teenagers even though the calendar, our driver's license, our childrens' drivers licenses, and our life experiences say otherwise. My point was that in our head, we'll always feel like we are 18 years old, even though intellectually we know we are anything but.

I remember talking to a friend at work a couple of years ago who was born in the same year as I was. His complaint was that he was always the youngest guy at work until he woke up one day and discovered he was the oldest! Oh boy, did I understand what he was talking about. Look, they never discovered the fountain of youth and there is no way to stop the clock on life. We are all going to grow older and the only thing we can all do is sit back and enjoy the ride. However long we end up living, life is a short ride that goes way too fast. So take each day as it comes and try to enjoy all of them. Love your family and friends, have as many experiences as you can and never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. No regrets is the way to live every day. It won't make them pass any slower, but life is too short to worry about the little things! Time does indeed fly when your having fun!

Escalator Rules...are there such things?

There has been a lot of chatter lately from several of my Facebook friends about escalator incidents. Once the topic is started, there are lots of additional comments as it seems that just about everyone has had some kind of an incident lately on a set of moving stairs! Most of them seem to center around folks (or groups of folks) who get to the top or bottom of an escalator, get off, and proceed to stop dead, totally forgetting for the moment that there are people behind them who will soon be up their collective backsides! Cell phones seem to almost always be part of the mix and the lack of ability to text and walk seems to be at the heart of a lot of the incidents, but that's not all. There are also the groups of people who seem to get off an escalator without a clear idea of where to go next and instead of stepping aside to make that decision, seem to be immobilized!

I myself have had a couple of these recently. One morning, coming up the 3 story escalator from the LIRR level of Penn Station at 8AM a young lady in front of me was too busy texting on her phone to move away from the escalator as she got to the top, forgetting that there was a steady stream of hundreds of people right behind her! She didn't stay there long before she was shoved out of the way. One afternoon I was going down an escalator when two young guys in front of me stepped off and stopped dead so that they both could share a text that one had just received. The gentleman in front of me perfectly expressed my sentiments when he said, "Tell me you two are kidding! Get the hell out of the way your jerks!" He had the size to carry it off!

Then there are escalator walkers. Now, personally I don't think escalators are designed to be walked up or down....something about the relation of the height of the steps to the width, but lots of folks obviously don't share my feelings. So, what do you do?? Do I act like I am the only person in the world or do I acknowledge that others in the world think differently than I do? So here are what I think the bare minimum should be for escalator rules:

1 - If there is a line to get onto an escalator, wait on it. Don't walk ahead of those waiting and push your way in front of someone else. We all have some place to be.

2 - Please make using the escalator your main job not secondary to talking or texting on the phone, talking with your friends, window shopping, daydreaming or whatever else might occupy you.

3 - Step on smartly and if you are one person, stay to the right so others can pass you if they should so choose (and because this is America and not Great Britain, stay to the right not the left so the walkers don't have to be part of an obstacle course).

4 - When you get to the top or the bottom of the escalator, please move off the moving stairs and out of the way if you are unsure of where to go next, or otherwise perplexed.

I think if we all followed these simple rules life would be easier for all escalator users. Who am I kidding...do I really think anyone cares? Oh well, I can dream...right?