This is the eighth installment of “Old Pueblo Abuelo,” a Sunday thought on positive things happening in the Old Pueblo from a sometimes cranky and often times humorous grandfather actually born in Tucson.
“You can live a life, worrying about the me, or you can give a life, taking care of the we.”
Every picture ever taken of you is a picture taken when you were younger and that includes selfies because every second is lost to another time even if it was just a moment ago. Time is undefeated and it probably always will be.
With time, comes life and death. We all come into this world and we all leave. The circumstances from before conception to long after we pass can define us. My DNA tells me most of my relatives came from Spain and that’s understandable with my parents carrying the names “Jaramillo” and “Avila” in their DNA. A very small portion of me comes from our current land in the form of Yaqui heritage. The blood of my ancestors defines me.
I was raised south of the railroad tracks in Tucson – the Sunnyside neighborhood to be exact – and that defines me. We moved to the Washington, DC area when I was in junior high and graduated from high school in suburban Maryland and that defines me. I earned two degrees from the University of Arizona and that defines me. On and on. Family, children, jobs.
Everything that defines me is in the past. Good or bad. What I did 20 years ago might be as important as what I did 10 minutes ago but it’s all in the past and, as some of you know, my past could have ended at several moments in time. In fact, I’m living on borrowed time and I know time will eventually win.
Time landed a few punches but I’m still standing. I’m bruised and cut but I landed a few punches myself and I know I will eventually hit the mat but I know there will be more to all this when I’m down and I’m not talking spiritually.
My father gave me the gift of his knowledge near the end of his life. The talks of those last several months while he was still with us have shown me the way to defeat time by trying to make a life that will hopefully be defined long after I’m gone – as his continues to be.
Those talks are for another Sunday, but if you live a life for others, then time is nothing. You will live on in your deeds.
More “Old Pueblo Abuelo” can be found here.
FOLLOW @ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER
Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News award winner and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and he is a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
Recommended for you
