Publisher’s Page: The many interpretations of ‘I gotta go!’

By Corby Carlin Winters, Marketing and Public Relations

“I gotta go” is a phrase I’ve heard all my life.

“I gotta go” can be painful words to hear. But sometimes, they can also be cute, like the time I said “I gotta go” take a spin on a four-wheeler!

“I gotta go” can mean different things depending on the circumstances. It definitely means different things at different ages of one’s life as well.

For Winters and me, the progression of the phrase “I gotta go” has been a little bit like this …

At  2 years of age, when the SONS would say “I gotta go” that meant “I gotta pee and I gotta pee now.” Needless to say Winters and I were quick to respond to “I gotta go.”

When they were 10, the SONS were likely to roll their eyes and say with a perturbed tone, “I gotta go” as they jumped out of the car. Clearly,  I was holding them up, holding them back or holding up traffic. Then they would quickly dash off and I would just shake my head in disbelief.

In their teen years, the SONS say things like “Mom, I gotta go! I gotta go because I am playing my video game and I will die because I can’t pause. I have gotta go back to the virtual world and fast.”

Now at 21, the eldest SON is saying things like “I gotta go” after asking for some favor all the while sounding a bit exasperated. It is painful realizing your sweet little boy is becoming a man and your heart tightens when he says, “Mom, I gotta go, my friends are waiting.” Or “I gotta go back to college.” One day it will be “I gotta go pick up my kids (my grandkids).”

The fact is sometimes we “gotta go” because we simply have to, sometimes we want to. Sometimes we must. Sometimes we need to.

The reality is that daughters become women, sons turn into men, parents age and pass away. Sometimes friends are there for us and sometimes they are not. Sometimes spouses say,  I am done and “I gotta go.”

Sometimes we are blessed with the easy decisions of life, like I gotta go to the grocery store, I gotta go get one eye contact not two. I gotta go for a walk, I gotta clean my house, I gotta go kiss my SONS good night and Winters too. Those are more like “I wannas” than I gottas.”

Life is so short my dear friends, and sadly we often waste precious energy and time doing, or focusing on goofy, unimportant things. But as long as we have breath to breathe we have the opportunity to make sure we make the most out of the moments we have with the ones we love.

We can focus on the significant things of life,  because before we know it, in the blink of an eye, those we love will say “I gotta go.”