Attention all you “oldsters”: Be aware there are exactly the same number of hours in every day as there were when we were children. But now more than ever we are drawn towards chopping them up into tiny manageable pieces to service all our consuming needs.

When I was young — a whole lot younger — the hours in a day seemed longer; perhaps it was because they didn’t take as long to get used up as the amount of time needed now.

The older we get the more we complain about not having enough time for everything, but it isn’t the time that’s at fault — it’s us.

Remember when as children we were required to follow our elders’ “ridiculous rules” — yadda, yadda? They were expected of us.

Is there any difference now that we are the elders? Not really. Most of us still think we have to do whatever and whenever something is “on order” — and we forget that sometimes there are benefits in not having enough time, that sometimes we don’t have to do everything we think we have to.  Time still comes in the same number of hours.

Something else to ponder: The other day in a local grocery store I observed a gentleman ahead of me checking out with two items: a six-pack of beverage and a small sack of cat food.

That seemed rather odd, but it came to my mind that perhaps here was a kindly person thinking of not only himself but the needs of a certain little well-loved creature in his care. Okay…

Then, I thought — well, maybe not everything is just the way it seems — maybe that isn’t why he is here. Maybe he was watching a ball game on TV and cat was bothering him because it wanted something to eat. Maybe the man wanted something too, but only to drink.  There was nothing in the fridge and his wife said, “If you want anything, go to the store and while you are there get that cat something or it’ll be having your lunch today.”

By the time it was my turn to pay for my purchases and leave I was already wondering if I really wanted to like the guy, his wife instead, or neither.

Of course, I’ll never know how the cat fared when the man got home, but I hope it was pleased.

Isn’t it strange how we sometimes judge things by what we think we see and not by what it might be?

Perhaps it comes down to the point that if something is unpredictably different from the way it looks at first glance, is probably a good idea to step away from assuming it’s the right choice.

P.S. I’m sure it’s not common for a human to receive a birthday greeting card from a dog, but I did recently. His name is Jasper, he lives two doors north and he “signed” the card “ARF ARF!” Isn’t that sweet? (Don’t tell his owners but he got a tiny dab of frosting as a thank you.)