A friend and work associate, who is much younger than I, made a comment the other day that I have heard many times before, and have often said myself.

“Wow,” she said. “It is already November. This year is really flying by.”

She is right, but that is a saying usually reserved for old people to say. When you get to be my age, the days, weeks, months and years do seem to just fly by.

I had a birthday this past week, and it seems like I had just had one. Birthdays are usually a good time for me to reflect on the year just past, and think about the year to come.

Yes, I know, many people do that on New Year’s Eve. But somehow, I have always done it on Nov. 5, which is my birthday. Maybe you do that too.

I think about what I have done during the year, and what I did not do. I usually determine that overall, it was a pretty good year.

But man, did it ever fly by.

A business associate of mine many, many years ago, shook his head when someone said, “Sorry, I just don’t have enough time to do that.” He would point out that God gave all of us the same amount of time, 24 hours, in every day. It was what we choose to do with those 24 hours that makes the difference.

I think his point was that some folks choose to do a lot, and some choose to not do so much.

I guess I have chosen to spend a lot of my time working on a weekly newspaper, and getting that weekly newspaper to the press on time.

I enjoy writing stories and knowing that some folks are reading those stories that I create.

Of course, I also like to do other things. Some of those things have changed over the years, as one thing I like to do is try new things. Golf, travel, camping, kayaking, reading, wine-making, model trains, and a whole lot more.

But back to those flying by years.

Didn’t we just have the holiday season, and now it is starting up again? Wasn’t it just spring and really rainy a few days ago, and now suddenly fall is over and winter is going to start.

Didn’t I just have a birthday, and now I suddenly have had another one.

For most folks, I don’t have to explain this strange feeling of time speeding up as we get old, because we all feel it.

I remember when I was a kid that summer off from school seemed like a long time, and the school year itself seemed to go on forever. I remember that it felt like it was a long time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as we could not wait for Christmas to get here. Now it seems like the two holidays are only days apart.

Maybe time flies by for some of us, because we have a lot of things we want to do, and feel like we don’t have enough time to get them all done. Perhaps, for some people, even older people, who don’t have anything to do, and all day to get it done, feel that the days just drag by, and that time passes very slowly.

I have a little bit of advice for those people.

Find something to do.

There are people who are retired who tell me they just relax and take it easy. Other ones tell me they feel like they are busier than they ever were.

So, for those who need something to do to keep busy, here are some suggestions.

Join a service club. They are all looking for new members and you will be helping others and your community. You will make some friends.

Volunteer at your church, the nursing home, school, or for the food shelf, or for one of the many groups and folks making a difference in the place where you live.

There are a lot more things you can do, groups you can help, or even just volunteer to help out a neighbor or relative if they need some help.

You get the idea. Get off the couch and go do something. Whether it is something fun, or something that will help others.

Remember, God gives us all 24 hours each and every day of our lives. No more, no less. Take a little bit of one of those 24-hour periods and do some thinking about what you want to do with that time allotted to you.

You could even do it on that next 24-hour period that is designated as your birthday.

Now I have to run. It will be a busy day today, as I have to work hard at my job sending the Register off to press this morning and then do some volunteer work at the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History this afternoon and evening. Plus, it is Holiday Sampler day in Blue Earth.

You know, the day is just going to fly by. Because it is going to be a whole lot of fun…