By John D. Montgomery, Purcell Register
WINNING Column-September 2002
As folks mature they often talk about the twilight or winter of their life.
It's not just the folks in their 70s, 80s or 90s that experience twilight. I'm taking this opportunity to pen a twilight column.
Over the last 25 years as a publisher I've written about 1,300 opinion pieces and, yes, 1,299 of 'em boring as heck, but this one I never really thought about.
I'm entering the twilight as a parent. As Perry Nemecek says about the empty nest, it's not all bad but it is definitely a change.
The way I've got it figured Gracie and I have attended approximately 866 school plays, athletic events, band concerts, assemblies and parent/teacher conferences.
That doesn't count practices, doctor visits related to athletic injuries, teacher visits, both by appointment and casual, principals visits and enrollments.
Don't get me wrong, we've got a few to go with a senior in
high school still, but we're paying a lot more in principal now than in interest if you know what I mean.
These days I now look at the Bryan Dyes and the Donald Shermans with a little envy. They still have those days ahead when you go to two or three junior high games one night, the high school games the nest and repeat the process in a couple of days.
People always wonder what they would do with spare time not chasing the kids around, and I guess I'm about to find out. Maybe you're just to pooped to pop or you're catching your second wind for the next generation.
Funny thing, I was planning on writing this column when I got a letter from the elder child at college that expressed appreciation about the above effort.
When you're going 90 mph a minute you never even know they're paying attention. Sometimes the little ones grasp a bit more than us old fogies give 'em credit for.
I've often wondered how many miles we've traveled around watching the Dragons perform and sometimes I wish I had kept a log.
On the other hand, I'm sure I really don't want to know. I know this, Tommy Herell is glad we're on the go so much.
Well, it may be wintertime in my parental days, but I've still got a couple of blooms to harvest.
When we came to town the Mama Dragons were going strong and Phyllis Norvell wanted Gracie to join.
At the time, we said all we had were a couple of lizards. Now those lizards are either full-blown Dragons or alumni. It's only a blink, but it's been one very enjoyable blink.
Meantime, we've got a few games left to attend and some lizards to bring up.