Where Has That Little Girl Gone?
By Sybil Bayles

      The leaves are falling from the calendar as quickly as those that fall from the trees. It’s hard to realize that I have already outlived the Bible promise of three score and ten years, because I am still “me” inside! Sometimes I make the mistake of looking into the mirror and I often have to stop for another look. Where has the “me” that I know gone?

      Surely this wrinkled face, these brown-spotted hands, drooping eyelids, this slow step, this ‘hand-on-the-railing’ stair descent, this ‘what did I come in here for’ person is not really ME! Frank Sinatra had it right when he sang, “Where has that little girl gone?” Where, of, where is my childhood? Where are those long, summer days of running barefoot through the hot, thick dust of country roads? What has happened to the wonderful/dreadful pangs of puberty? What about my first crush, my first date, my first heartache? And on and on it goes.
 
      Almost without realizing it, I have become an OCTOGENARIAN! I have joined those millions of Americans who are still going strong into their eighth decade. I am a part of that group who knows what they are going to do with the ‘prime’ time we might have left. LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!  We are contributing to, and participating in, society through many avenues. We also take time to enjoy a full moon, a lovely painting, a cozy chair by the fire, a good book, a crossword puzzle, a visit to and from loved ones, and a beautiful sunset when day is done.

      Childhood memories are treasures we can take out and enjoy from time to time but were we have to live is in the present. Life must be lived today. I have noticed a new measure of time from our youngsters, namely, 24/7. That tells it all. We can do things that will simply ‘make the time pass’, or we can do things that are enjoyable and useful to ourselves and others. Whether we count time as 24/7 or as simply days, weeks, months, or years, it, too, will pass.

Laura Sybil Moore Bayles, a native of Virginia reared in Louisiana, is a retired banker, widow of the later Buron A. Bayles, mother of two sons, Jerry and Billy, proud grandmother of six, and great grandmother of four.  She has been writing since the age of seven, mainly gleaned from real life experiences. While a member of Toastmasters, Inc., Sybil won several district, area, and regional contests in humorous speaking.