It’s Been A Long Time

It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled

It’s been a long time since I did the stroll

Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back

Let me get it back, baby, where I come from

-It’ Been A Long Time, Led Zepplin, 1971

Yes, it has! My 50th-year high school reunion is next month…, yeah, I know.

Around the time I graduated, there was a picture in the local paper of a bunch of old geezers celebrating their 50th. Those blue-hair pot-bellied old timers seemed as far removed from my life as the moon. 

What the hell happened?

Most of my friends are starting to look old, like people I wouldn’t normally hang out with. Last weekend, someone snapped a photo of all of us at a wedding. I fit right in!

My alma mater, Kirkwood High School in suburban St. Louis, was established in 1865. As the population grew, the school moved a few times. The campus I attended opened the year I was born. That was the first year black and white students from the district attended school together. A lot has changed since then. 

As a kid, every once in a while, I would find a penny from the early 1920’s. It amazed me to reflect that the coin was minted before my parents were born, in other words, ancient history! For those keeping score at home, 2023 is as distant from 1973 as 1973 was from 1923. That doesn’t seem possible!

I never realized how age-segregated our society is until I retired. In my final work years, everyone in the office was younger than me. Now that I’m out and about during the day, most folks I encounter skew older. I miss interacting with young people. The young people I do come in contact with undoubtedly see me like that photo of those old geezers. I don’t feel at all like that. 

When I graduated from high school, the future stretched out forever. That’s not true anymore! If my life were compressed into a one-week vacation, it would be Friday evening!

Yikes!

I don’t really fear the inevitable, but I have to admit that the inevitable is looking more inevitable. I remember my Dad’s amazed expression when I turned fifty. “It should be me turning fifty,” he said. I’m starting to relate! 

As a young child, I remember visiting my Grandmother, whom I was quite fond of. We recently bought a house in Portland, OR, within walking distance to our daughter’s house. She frequently stops by with Adalyn, our three-year-old granddaughter. It’s weird that I’m the grandparent now. 

Adalyn recently started pre-school. She’s really excited about it. I remember my first days at kindergarten, they were exciting! 

I used to think time was linear. I was wrong; time is a circle. Watching it come around to where I’ve already been feels strange, which reminds me of another song from my youth:

I’ve looked at life from both sides now

From up and down, and still somehow

It’s life’s illusions, I recall

I really don’t know life at all

-Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchel, 1966

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