Getting Around To It...

Not that there's a great uproar across the blogosphere about my lack of writing recently, but I still feel bad about my output (or lack thereof) over the past couple of months.  I still have a lot of ideas and topics for future posts floating around in my mind that I simply haven't been able to hammer out on the keyboard.  Most of this has to do with a perceived lack of free time caused by our impending move.  In about a week our little family unit will be packing up and moving from our little house in our little town to an even littler apartment in a big city.  Along with some other distractions over this summer the move has been hanging over our heads like a dark cloud.  At this time it almost feels "selfish" to take the time necessary to think out, write, edit new blog entries.  And that's not even mentioning the time involved with adding photos to those posts.  If all goes well I should lose this excuse in another month or so and be back to my old output of about a blog per week (on average).  We will see...

Not being able to get around to writing has reminded me of a little piece of my past (a VERY little piece).  Back when I was in the U.S. Army I was stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky.  Yes, there actually is an Army base by that name--it's not just a gold depository.  I was only in the service for two years, but in that time I managed to not write home nearly enough.  I should mention that this was way back in the "dark ages" of the late 1980s.  It was a time before the internet and before cell phones.  While it may seem difficult for someone growing up today, there was a time--not all that long ago--when people would actually write letters as a way to keep in touch.  And I'm talking about literally writing a letter on a piece of paper and using a pen of pencil rather than sending out an e-mail or a text or tweet.  We did make phone calls too (frequently from an ancient device called a "Pay Phone"), but letter writing wasn't quite the endangered art form that it is today.

This isn't to say that I never wrote, it just wasn't as often as it could have been.  During the first part of my time in the service I had a girlfriend and most of my writing involved letters sent to her.  After we broke up I spent a lot more time feeling sorry for myself than writing.  Either way, I never wrote home to my parents nearly as often as I wish I had.  It's true that we're talking about something that I did (or didn't do) nearly a quarter-of-a-century ago, but I still regret my laziness to this day.

At one time my mother sent me a package full of snacks and presents around the time of my birthday.  It was a wonderful little slice of HOME, and a great distraction from the daily grind of living in the barracks doing "Army stuff".  There was one little item in it which was probably meant mostly as a joke, but it also let me know the error of my ways (as minor as that error might have been).  It was a small cardboard box that contained a little wooden token.  The small circle of wood had one word imprinted on it: "TUIT".  My mother wrote on the box "In case you're waiting to write until you get around to it, here it is!"  Yes, she had sent me a "Round Tuit".  The obverse of this little novelty had the name of my father's personal company name, GUSCO, inscribed on it.

I've always remembered that little wooden token and thought about the fact that I should have written home more often.  I actually kept that box of gifts and sent it home when my time in the Army ended.  Along with some other stuff I packed into it there were still some of the original contents.  Not too long ago I found that same box my mom had sent me all those years ago at my parents' house while I was visiting them.  What a wonderful surprise it was to find the little "Round Tuit" in there!  I am now keeping it handy to remind myself that I need to keep finding the time to get around to keeping in touch with the people in my life, as well as finding the time to write this blog.  Hopefully I'll be more successful at doing that today than I was when I was a much younger man.