Why does Father Time look so old when he was “Baby New Year” just 12 months ago?

In response to last week's question, “Why does Father Time look so old when he was “Baby New Year” just 12 months ago?”, my friend Richard concluded “Father Time appears so old because most of the year he is wasted” while my sailing philosopher friend Rich noted, “It's not the time, it's the mileage!”

“Father time has a rare genetic disease called Progeria which accelerates the aging process 10 fold,” explained my running partner’s husband Ted. “Add the fact that Daddy Time is part dog (which my friend Tracey confirmed), we add factor of 7x, which means one year for him is really like 70 yrs for us.

My colleague Sandra agreed for a different reason, saying, “Good ol baby face is prematurely aging because of the recession and lack of health insurance for someone without a social security number. Oh well…..the “sound bite” administration will give free face lifts to all the unemployed and aging worker, have him wait his turn.”

My dad found a Biblical answer. “Father Time lives by Biblical months; remember Abraham was 150 years old when he became a father.”

My politic-loving friend Kevin noted that “Hey, if you were responsible for the entire year for the whole world, you'd look pretty darn old too.”

Some friends were more specific though. My friend Cheryl thought it was “stress,” my cousin Valarie thought “kids,” Royce thought it was “George Bush”, an unnamed friend suggested “divorce” and Scott, Jon and Bob agreed that “the decline in the economy will cause anyone to age rapidly.” My nearly-retired friend Stuart added, “He must use the same stock broker who just ‘made off’ with all my dough.”

My colleague Chris summed up “all the gray hairs from the ‘agita’ of deaths, births, injuries, marriages, court cases, job losses, world financial crisis, doctor's appointments and Ground Hog Day, it leads one to conclude, ‘Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils’."

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

How was it decided when the year starts?

Live well...laugh often..be happy and have a good week…