Make your 1,000 months count
Gary Anderson of Smithtown with his father, Gordon Anderson, in Sarasota, Fla., in 2010. Credit: Anderson Family
Reader Gary Anderson lives in Smithtown.
A few years ago, Billy Crystal wrote and starred in a Broadway play called "700 Sundays." The title described the number of Sundays Crystal figured he had spent with his father, who died when the son was only 15.
Earlier this year, I lost my father, Gordon Anderson, who was 96 years old. It got me thinking that counting 700 Sundays was way too short and that most of us aren't going to reach 96 years.
But how about months? In many of our life spans, we will experience 1,000 of them (that's a little more than 83 years). While a given week or a given year may be too short or too long to put in perspective, segments of 30 days sound about right.
What if we all tried to accomplish something "extra" every month? Now, it doesn't have to be something big or major. Reading a good book, seeing that movie everyone is talking about, attending an adult ed program on a favorite subject, staying with an exercise program or eating healthier, are all things we can do over the course of a given month.
Or how about an individual act of kindness or charity? I bet if we each marked our calendars with 12 items covering the next 12 months, it wouldn't be hard to do them all. Maybe even make it a family project and get everyone involved with their ideas.
Although the 1,000 months notion came to me while pondering Billy Crystal's performance and my father's passing, I've learned that others have had the idea, too. There's even a website, 1000months.net, that urges people to use their time wisely.
My father spent his entire career working for the Associated Press in its financial news department, and his work on daily stock market results appeared in newspapers throughout the country. I'd like to think that by having this article published, I've made my dad proud. See, I've already accomplished a good deed for the month.
So the next time you ask yourself, "Where did that month go to?" or say, "Boy, did that month just fly by," you'll be able to say to yourself, "but I did make it count."
