3-Years of Fame

 

There are lots of things our folks don’t tell us. They don’t tell us we will be consumed by lust. They don’t tell us we will do dumb things to have friends. They don’t tell us we will be overwhelmed with debt trying to purchase everything everyone else has purchased. They don’t tell us we will die. They don’t tell us as long as we live, we will have no more than 3-years that that will be memorable.

Three years seems limited if you live a long life or massive if you die young. Since most of your obituary is taken up by family and who you sire, and the gravestone only tells the passerby date of birth and death, three years sounds like a good amount of time to do something to be remembered by.

What do people say about grandpa or grandma?

Caught the biggest fish this side of Oakly Mountain in 67 years. Won first place ribbon for her famous peach cobbler in ’58. He was the star running back for the team that won the 1955 All County Championship. She and Tommy Watkins cleared the dance floor at the Senior Prom with their rendition of the Peppermint Twist.

What do people not say about grandpa or grandma?

He would chew of the butt of a cigar and spit it across the room. She was a lush. He ran a car off the road and killed a family of four. She left Billy for Tommy because he had a better car. He spent time in the hoosegow for shooting Mr. Hopkins for not bringing back his goat. She had Billy’s baby who is your mother. He snored when he slept in church. She was sexually abused as a child. He couldn’t hear out of his left ear after his celebratory cannon exploded in 1962. She has a tattoo on her back. He was fired for sleeping on the job. She belonged to a nudist colony down in Bath County.

…and so it goes.

Everyday in our short lives have events, actions, effects on others and results worth filling the pages of a novel. Much of them are commonplace and boring, but for 3-years, each one of us will become someone who will be remembered.

‘But what about?’ you say.

There are names of people who are long gone who we still hold in some reverence. Elvis had 3-years of hits, then everything he did was just a replay of better days. The Beatles had 3-years of Beatlemania but even the best public relations couldn’t keep the hits coming. Martin Luther King Jr. was a little boy before he had a dream. Even Jesus had a life before the Bible started quoting him.

Why is this important?

We all strive to be remembered. We might hide it under the auspicious of gathering goods or wealth, being photographed and published or making up gossip, but we want people to remember us.

If life is a race, then we know when we are in our stride and when it is over. We know our limits. We should understand when, for reason of wealth, skill, health, age, or some formulated reason we do not understand, we are on the down slope of life.

We will never have the best spitball anymore. We will never be the first pick at the dance. We will never be chosen to head a new project at the company. We will never wear that wedding gown again. We will rock in the shade instead of lay on the beach. We will let others show their dance moves. We will not be listened to when assembling that lawnmower. We will need someone else to tie our shoes.

Still for 3-years, each and every one of us will be at the top of our game and should rejoice in it. Some don’t get the chance.

If you knew this up-front would you play the best game of your life, lift the trophy and then say, “That’s it”? If you got elected would you say, “It doesn’t get any better than this”? If you get caught robbing a bank and shot the sheriff you can say, “They’ll remember me for this one”.

Do a data curve of your life. Like a roller coaster where does it peak and then you get on the downside slide? Think about your mail. When did it change from invest in our new exciting profitable project to walk in bathtubs? Instead of moving into the latest subdivision you get mail for moving into senior assistance housing? Instead of the latest clothing trend your mail is about the latest method of interment?

Think of the stories you tell your friends or how you are introduced to strangers.