WHEN: October 24, 2010
WHERE: North Charleston, SC
I always knew this day was coming and for a quite a while I knew exactly when it would be. October 24, 2010 is a unique milestone in my life, because today I turned 10,000 days old!
In fact, I remember when I turned 5,000 days old. It was Valentine's Day 1997, to be exact. The age of personal computers was still emerging and I remember some program my dad had on his that was a digital clock with the running years, months, days, minutes, and seconds from the entered date. We typed in my birthday and it showed I would turn 5,000 days old on February 14, 1997. I'm sure we checked to see when I would turn 10,000 days old and so forth and this was probably the first time I had thought about October 24, 2010.
Fast-forward about 11 years to the spring of 2008. Personal computers had become as common as refrigerators (if not more so, and most likely more numerous) in US households. Dozens if not hundreds of websites now provided handy "time calculators" and Facebook was exploding in popularity. It was here, on Facebook, in the spring of 2008 that I again looked forward to October 24, 2010. On my information page, as part of an occasional snippet of random nonsense I would update from time to time (not unlike this blog), I posted my "Daily Dose of Random". That post has remained untouched to this day, mostly because I've become to largely discontinue use of Facebook.
As you may notice on that post, I wrote -
Well obviously 9 did beat 10. Though Stace and I would love to have been parents by October 24, 2010, we are still waiting, but we are so excited to someday be. I think we have both been emotionally ready for children since the day we were married but we also know children are a lifetime commitment and we are waiting for God's timing to bring them into our life.
And on that note, I'd like to sincerely thank both my parents for taking care of me and loving me every one of the 10,000 days of my life. Even without children, I am not unaware of the responsibilities, commitment, and concerns that parents face. And I also know that that commitment does not end when the kids turn 18 years old (or 10,000 days old). Stacie and I are always asking our parents for advice or needs we face and I know that both our parents, even as empty-nesters, still see us as their babies. As much as I think I understand this parenting role, I know I will never fully understand or appreciate it until I have children of my own. And if parenthood is as challenging as I think is it without having children of my own, I cannot imagine how much more it really is. And for that, I thank you, mom and dad, for your selfless, intentional, and much-needed love throughout these 10,000 days and those to come.
It was quite odd taking pictures of myself and perhaps more odd for any neighbors that saw me taking this "senior picture". There's no script for posing (for yourself) on your 10,000-day-old...day!
But something I was completely unaware of until today was the other "significance of thirds" in my life that was represented today. Not only did today mark the passing of the FIRST "third of my life" but it highlighted a romantic beginning that represents the LAST one third of my life. On September 8, 2001, Stacie and I officially began dating each other. Not until I plugged that date in to Excel today with the others did I realize that today marks day #3,333 of our relationship; one-third of 10,000 - to the day! Ironic??
She is in Minnesota today, spending the week with our families and meeting our new nephew, Carter. I took her to the airport yesterday at 6:30am, after she was up three times that night throwing up and generally feeling nauseous. I called the airline at 5:30am to see if we could get it rescheduled, but without a doctor's note we were SOL. She made in to the airport, however, and ultimately to Minnesota and is feeling much better today. I miss her and though I wish I could spend today with her, I am very thankful she is healthy, safe, and gets to be with her family. We are so thankful for our close-knit, loving families. Living so far away makes you really appreciate your family and not to take them for granted. Having her gone only 24 hours makes me realize how easy I can take her for granted. I am sincerely happy she gets to be with her family this week. Plus, she deserves a vacation! On this side of eternity, I believe family is the best gift God has given us and turning another (significant) day old, while being alone, makes me appreciate that even more.
There you have it. A post about days on a blog about time. I don't have any profound ending statement to wrap up the post of the last 10,000 days of my life. Maybe, "Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late" (Benjamin Franklin)? Or, "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be..." (Robert Browning)? I think the best way, better than I could hope to write it, is to let Chris Rice sing it...
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