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Reflecting on the milestones of long life

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  • Gabe Semenza •
  • Originally published January 5, 2009 at 2:01 a.m., updated January 5, 2009 at 2:01 a.m.

When I was seventeen, it was a very good year,

it was a very good year for small town girls

and soft summer nights;

We'd hide from the lights

on the village green

when I was seventeen.

'It Was a Very Good Year'

Ervin Drake, 1961

Today marks a milestone in my life that most of us probably dread: The 65th birthday.

It's a good time to reflect on the key birthdays of your life, and perhaps ponder how many more birthdays the Good Lord will grant you.

My sixth birthday was my earliest milestone. As I climbed the stairs of the little red schoolhouse at Resurrection School in Denver Harbor, Houston, for the first time, I didn't realize it, but an entire world was about to open to me as I learned to read and comprehend under the watchful eye of Sister Mary Elizabeth.

On my 14th, I got my driver's license and, coincidentally, it was in my 17th year that Ervin Drake penned that melancholy song I quoted at the beginning of this column.

Of course, birthday 21 was a big one for me. There I was, officially an adult - chronologically if not in maturity level. I joined the Air Force and became a medic.

In my 23rd year, I became a father - a year later a father again.

At 30, I picked up and moved from Houston to Colorado, and began a lifetime love affair with the Rocky Mountains. And, at 46, I returned to Texas to become managing editor of the Advocate.

Man oh man, where did all those years go? We'll never get 'em back, folks, but we can relish the memories of good times as long as we want.

And as I beckon back to the best of times in my life, I ponder Ervin Drake song once again:

But now the days grow short,

I'm in the autumn of the year,

and now I think of my life as vintage wine

from fine old kegs;

From the brim to the dregs

and it poured sweet and clear.

It was a very good year.

Jim Bishop is a senior editor for the Advocate. Leave him a message at 361-574-1210 or jbishop@vicad.com or comment on this column at www.victoriaadvocate.com



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