By Ashley Lodato
Many people seem to be on the downsizing kick, my mother among them. In an effort to make the process of ridding oneself of unnecessary possessions less emotionally draining, my mother deciding to begin her downsizing mission in the attic, where I stored a bunch of boxes in 1987 (fully intending to deal with them at some point, I might add, but the right moment has just not yet arisen).
Anyway, my mom went up to the attic and steeled herself to begin the artificially painful practice (this wasn’t her stuff, remember — she was rehearsing with mine) of deciding which of my mostly useless items would no longer have a home with her. I can only hope that by the time she got to the stage of selecting a particular 45-rpm record for extra scrutiny, she made a substantial pile of other items slated for the thrift store. But in any case, somehow she deemed that 7-inch piece of circular vinyl worthy of special consideration and she promptly mailed it up to me, thinking perhaps I might have a use for it, despite the fact that I have neither mechanism for playing said record, nor any real desire to do so.
The real irony for me, however, came when I noticed which song was on the A side of the record. Styx’s “Too Much Time on my Hands” might have been a fitting anthem for a teenager in the 1980s, but it in no way describes my current situation; nor, I’m guessing, anyone else’s around here. Too much time on my hands? Isn’t that how we all feel these days? Because after shoveling snow, the Cascadia concert, the Poetry Out Loud competition, shoveling snow, the high school jazz band recital, a few holiday parties, maybe a board meeting or two, and a little more shoveling snow — oh, and jobs and kids — I think we’re all just wringing our hands about how much extra time we have on them.
One person who actually does have a little bit more time on this hands — albeit temporarily — is Remington Rohrer, who recently passed his four-part CPA test. Remington says, “After 18 months of studying, procrastination, and test-taking I finally passed the CPA exam! I no longer have an excuse to decline your invitations.” Remington’s parents are hosting an open house for anyone who wants to congratulate Remington in person, on Dec. 26 from 2 – 5 p.m. at 19203 Highway 20 in Winthrop. Congratulations, Remington!
