Wow! Who would have thought that Coca-Cola and Joe Greene would bring about my first case of ‘Winter Weather/Age Related melancholy. “So who’s young enough?†I am, I’m afraid.
I’m young enough to remember a soda, tonic, pop, coke or whatever you wish to call a flavored carbonated beverage when it only came in a glass bottle. I’m old enough to remember when every household had at least one ‘church key’ to open beverage bottles. I saw the invent of the canned beverage and the following upgrade to the pull-tab/ring top, the demise of the church key and the rise of the screw top, plastic bottle, the 2-Litre jug, and the likes of Fresca and Jolt. During that evolution, I fondly recall collecting bottle caps – all unique and yet all the same. I remember hot summer days and bicycle rides several miles away to the nearest ‘mom & pop’ grocery store where we would cash in on the 2cent deposit money from collected, discarded bottles along the journey. I recall buying ‘penny’ candy with the surplus, and the long rides home. And, I remember when it was safe for a kid to make that journey alone because everyone knew you and everyone cared.
I’m young enough to remember my own VW, my bell-bottoms, and my drug and alcohol induced ‘enlightenment’ and the great – well, sometimes great music that accompanied them. And, thank God they are be hind me.
I’m young enough to remember Joe and a host of pro athletes of the era. But, more importantly and more fondly, I remember the guys I played sports with, some already gone. I remember how much fun sports were and recognize how much that has changed for a lot of kids. No one ever forced kids in my era to excel or compete because of pressure to succeed, and no one dropped us off at the field because it was cheaper than day-care.
I recall many of the people and events that were instrumental in molding what I am and what I feel today. I realize that the vast majority of my character is not my doing, but are the result of those people and the events we shared.
And now, I remember ‘old people’ rambling about the old days and thinking to myself how old they were and how old they behaved, and how they all seemed so stuck on the old days. I remember how I’d promised myself that it wouldn’t be that way with me. In some small ways I held to my promise. Fortunately, I’ve managed to keep an open mind and a youthful sense of humor. But, in a large part I’ve succumbed to many of the ‘old people’ things. I too have come to some small rationalization that those ‘old people’ weren’t all that screwed up. Its easy to cherish the times when life was more fun than work, when pain healed quickly, and when I could still stand to look into a mirror.
Gee, Mean Joe, you sure hit hard this time.
