Spare Change

For the past year or so the big word that is sweeping our landscape has been "change." One little syllable...change. Seems easy enough, easy to say, sounds good, when somethings are not going well, you whip out the old change word, and the masses rally around it - seemingly.

It was started a couple of years ago by Senator B.O. and then it sounded so good it was picked up later be Senator J.M. a few months ago. And whenever you turn on the TV, that's what you hear...we need change. Well to put tongue firmly in cheek here, I gotta be honest with you, I've had enough change lately, I'm looking for some...I don't know...some...."non change." I guess.

We've had some change alright. Gasoline prices were like 80 dollars a gallon this summer, banks failing, (and not Bob's Bank...I'm talking the big boys.) Wall Street flaming out, and the economy is in the trillion dollar toilet. Every day you turn on the news, and there is more change. We've seen extraordinary things the past year or so that no one ever thought we'd see. Truly.

There's been some good change too. The Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series and the Yankees and the Red Sox aren't , (now there's change.) It finally rained in the Southeast after a two year drought. On a personal level - more change, I've begun writing this column for this web-site and penning movie reviews too for Akronnewsnow.com. I have a wonderful new partner on the morning show, Sue Wilson, and those changes have all been not just good...but great!

And not to be taken lightly, I got the garage cleaned out recently. Now there's some change that was really needed!

Change to many is a scary thing. We like to know it's all going to be okay before we make any decision in life, but unfortunately not always possible. So it scares us and excites us all at the same time. I can relate, 4 times in my adult life, I moved to a new city hundreds of miles away, and didn't know one person there, not one. I remember the feeling as I drove away from City A to City B, apprehensive for leaving the safety of the known, and excitement anticipating the unknown that was just beyond my headlights. Somehow I just knew things would be okay, the change was for the better, and it usually was. But as I've gotten older and shared my that story with others, I realize that's not for everyone. But at the time I never really thought about it, I just did it. And I never regretted it, not once.

Lately, it appears that all this change in our lives didn't get rolling, until we started screaming change all the time! Coincidence? I have no idea! Just and observation that's all. The old saying is absolutely true, "the only thing in life that remains the same, is change." So with that in mind, we better get used to it. Sometimes in life you don't get to know how warm the water is before you jump in.

We're all in this change thing together, and remember.... in the end it'll be okay, if it's not okay, it's not the end.