FAST FORWARD

FAST FORWARD

I am all the ages I have ever been:


The little girl
with the buster brown haircut
who
adored her big brother.
He came
in the house
whistling and calling her
pet nicknames.


I am the teacher's pet
in grammar school
who loved poems
and
stories
and daydreamed
about movie stars
whose films
she saw
at the Palace Theater.
in Athens,Georgia
.
I am the
sister who
waited
for three brothers
to come home
from the war.


I am the distraught
young girl
whose pet dog
was run over
and killed
when he followed her
to town on
an ordinary Saturday.


I am the young woman who
went to work
at age
seventeen
at Southern Bell.
in Atlanta,
starting as an
operator
and progressing
to service representative
in four years.


I am the 21 year old
who met
the love of her life
on September 13
and married
him
on November 22,1951


I am the young mother
of a daughter born
in 1956
another daughter
in 1964
and
a son
in 1965.


I am the mom who
drove carpools
baked cookies
attended school plays
helped with
homework


I am the wife
who traveled
with her
successful businessman
husband
all over
the world

I am the daughter
who cared
for her own
mother
as she aged
and died
at ninety one

.
I am the grandmother
of six
who are
the light of her life


I am the 79 year old
woman
who loves
her husband
of fifty seven years
and wonders
how
in the
heck
did
she
get
so

OLD

and how
did
the
time
go.
whizzing by
So

DARN FAST

I am all the ages I have ever been.