Days Of Future Passed

Yes friends, it's gut-check time once again. I continue to live my life with a series of dates that follow me around and plague me in spite of the years spent between them. These include the birthdays of friends past and present, Tax Day (which happens to coincide with one of those birthdays), major holidays (including Flag Day), as well as the dates of some of the tragedies that have cropped up in my life both big ans small.
This wasn't always the case. I used to be able to live from my birthday in June to Christmas without having to flinch. Someone else was watching the calendar, and if I needed to be somewhere or buy a gift for mom or dad or one of my brothers, I would be pointed in the correct direction at that time. I suppose it might have helped that growing up in Boulder, Colorado allowed me the ebb and flow of seasons. Much in the same way that the mountains kept me firmly anchored in my sense of direction, when the snow began to fly I knew that the year was coming to a close.
Now I live in sunny California, and I am reminded periodically of my spot on the globe by the ocean to my left. The seasons are more subtle, but I have become more sensitive to them. I know that the days are getting shorter, and the rains will come before too long. But in my head I keep the date front and center. It isn't very often that things sneak up on me because I have all of these little alarms going off in my mind. It's one of the things that give me the reputation of being responsible. If being responsible means keeping the voice inside my head from getting to loud or insistent, then I'm guilty.
I keep moving to the beat, and I pass the speed bumps I set for myself so many years ago. I hardly slow down anymore. The happy times get filed next to the sad, and the slide show that is my life continues to grow.