My column’s heading “Now and Then” suggests that perhaps the annals of one’s life journey should be acknowledged more concisely. But there are periods when even I find it difficult to distinguish between the ‘now’ times and ‘then’ times involved. If those two also include the possibilities of “differences and likenesses” being able to co-exist, it gets even more difficult. How do I distinguish what is right?

Take as an example: What if an errant mini-marshmallow rolls under a kitchen cabinet well beyond one’s grasp; can a sudden thought or memory also malinger in one’s mind, equally as far from reach?

We can tell ourselves we’ll “get to it… in time.” But, if not, at least “we’ll get over thinking about it.” And, in time some of us may actually achieve that milestone and the marshmallow under the cabinet (the latent thought) becomes a mere blip on the screen print of our memory.

“How convenient to forget,” some may say, yet others may be annoyed to the nth degree because they can’t or don’t want to forget that errant marshmallow (memory). They need to fix it.

At various times, such as recently, I idle in a neutral state of indecision if there is any reason to assume there must always be a choice made.

Like when the focus is on a year ending. Or is it one beginning? Or, is it both? It depends largely on how you look at it.

To see if I could amend the problems confronting me, I chanced a backward glance at a time with which I am very familiar: the year of 2009. Why then? Because although there is no great expanse between the ‘now time’ and the ‘then time’, they can provide a reasonable example of how differences and likenesses can occur in both opposition and compatibility.

Few people today would recognize the time chosen as when the first columns by me appeared in the (then known as Kalona) News newspaper.

It was not something planned. It just happened and there they were, bearing the introductory title of “Hi Neighbor”.

That title soon became more important than I realized as readers began to greet me on the streets with a cheerful “Hi neighbor”. At first, I was slow to realize how to respond. But I got over it.

Ahhh…those were the days…

Now then, here I am again with a different story, a different time. Is there a difference or a sameness involved? Who knows? Is it merely a matter of choice?