Older Faster

There’s no question: the older you get, the faster you get older. I noticed, however, that time slowed up about 50% while in California the first week of June. It struck me clearly the first full day there; seemed like two days’ worth of time and they were all like that. This would support the argument for moving to California, unless I don’t really want to find brakes for what seems like a waxed slide to the grave. I’m pretty sure I would like to slow it up, painful though it may be. It’s like California was a bare stretch on the slide, and I hit wax again soon as we got back to Lawrence. Since returning, there’s been no time for activities to prepare for a move. Well, there might be time if I did nothing else; maybe that’s what it’ll take. My doctors would all say this perception of accelerating time is “psychological”. As if they’re qualified to make such assessments. Seven years and they haven’t been able to make a diagnosis. Their scientific tests say, with the precision of Swiss clocks, that I’m healthy as a horse. (What’s with that, anyway? I’ve seen some downright sickly horses). Since their scientific tests aren’t telling the truth (at least not the important truth) about my health, it seems plausible to me that Swiss clocks aren’t telling the truth about time, either.

Good-Bye Family Van

For a long time I periodically charged the battery and started it up, and inflated the tires. But finally the tires wouldn’t keep air more than an hour, and I hadn’t started the engine for about a year. So, I gave ‘er to my old friend Jim Vantuyl of Vantuyl Motors, and he arranged to have ‘er hauled to the car lot. Actually, he hauled it to Vantuyl Auto Center, where they put on some new tires, new fuel pump, new gas tank, and cleaned it up. I drove by the car lot on the way to work the other day, and they had it looking pretty good. Meanwhile, it still feels weird to go outside and see the empty spot in the driveway.

Mystery Relatives

I recently sent the famly an invite to look at some picasaweb photos I’d uploaded, and the result was general confusion. The subjects in the photos were relatives on Becky’s side. Becky has two brothers, Mike and Jeff, and two sisters, Judy and Sherri. They all have kids. Mike’s kids are Jennifer and Eric. Eric is married and has at least one kid. Jeff’s kids are, um, well, I’ll have to ask Becky. Judy’s kids are, um, I’ll have to ask Becky about that, too. At least one of Judy’s kids has kids, and those were Joseph and Elsie who were in some of the uploaded photos. Sherri’s kids are Cassie and Katy and Katrina, I think. Since I can’t even remember all of them, it’s not surprising some other Chappells wouldn’t remember any of them at all.

Maybe I’ll update the Ancestry page with more of Becky’s side of the famly. I’m always a little hesitant, though, about putting genealogy info about living persons, especially kids, on the internet. On the other hand, sending the info around in email doesn’t really stick. Emails are either not saved, or else saved and forgotten. It’s a challenge.