The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Early this week I had to make another trip to the Tri-Cities, this time to have my car serviced. Another great ride with my top down, music blaring, enjoying the perfect weather and empty highway. Of course, I made a quick Costco run as well. Evidently, the last time I was in Costco, I was either oblivious or disinterested because I didn’t register that they were already selling Halloween costumes. I should have noticed the candy. Yes, the seasons are changing quickly, and I’m almost glad to have a good reason to yank out my garden.

However, this last trip to Costco nearly made me cry. It’s early September, yet there were Christmas decorations making their first appearances on the shelves, and aisles full of toys to start the kids yearning and whining. Luckily, there were numerous liquor options as well, adults need their compensations.

Then to add to my dismay, I took Mugsy for a walk when I got home and saw the myriad of houses already decorated for Halloween. I’m still wearing my summer sandals with sunscreen smeared all over my face!

This morning while enjoying our coffee on our sun-drenched deck, Daniel noticed that the leaves were beginning to drop from the trees. Autumn is coming. We are resigned to the fact that few, if any, of our green tomatoes will ripen on the vine. So, it’s on to plan B; we’ll make pickled green tomatoes and maybe even have a few fried to ease our tomato disappointment this year.

What dismays me the most is that the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. Once Labor Day hits, the rest of the days, we just zoom through. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and suddenly, it’s the New Year! I know I’m not alone with this feeling, but that doesn’t appease me!

Although aging may not be fun, I’m reminded of the cliché, “it beats the alternative.” As the years fly by, I will experience falling asleep on the couch every time I turn on the TV or open a book. I will have a growing dependency on Advil, find new lines and wrinkles all over my face, gain five pounds every time I look at a potato, and lose my tolerance for almost everything.

If that was not enough, I have voluntarily added some challenges, the first of which was buying a restaurant with Daniel so we can work long, crazy hours; proof that you don’t necessarily get wiser as you get older. Or planting too many plants to manage, so I am not only frustrated but humiliated by bugs, weeds, and having a dog. Not to mention that most of Waitsburg’s residents are much better gardeners than I am.

Being an optimist by nature, I will try to look on the bright side of aging as the years take flight. The restaurant has forced me (unwillingly) to become a member of Facebook and Instagram. Learning new things, albeit not things I really cared about before, are an excellent way to exercise my brain.

I can walk around my front yard in my sweatpants, nightgown, and sweatshirt, looking like a crazy lady, and no one comments. They have just accepted that I’m a weird old lady who likes swearing at her tomato plants.

I’ve been trying to think of other compensations about aging, but they elude me. So, I will be grateful that I am in good health, I have a job (or two), I’ve been vaccinated, and the hoverflies, spiders, and yellowjackets will all soon be gone, as will be my tomato plants!