Monday, September 16, 2019

Today Is My Birthday

Today I turn 65. Gosh that's old.
My wife Denise, her Bestest my sister
Karen who introduced me to
her. She was 16. Birthday dinner
this past weekend.

Here's the thing, when you're younger you never think you'll ever be this old.  Jackson Browne sings in The Pretender, "They say in the end it's the wink of an eye."

Amen to that.

What's funny is how things have changed over the years.

Like when snacks said spicy hot when I was a kid, they were kinda bland. Now when they say spicy hot your mouth just about falls off they're so hot.

Kids nowadays like candies like Sour Patch Kids and Starbursts, you know, things that are tart. We didn't then. We liked chocolate. Don't get me wrong people still do but that's not the go to like it used to be. Go to the movies and see what they have for sale. And while we're talking I remember great buttered popcorn for 15 cents. Now it's the kind of popcorn you pack boxes with and it's like a 100 bucks.

I can remember the days before rap and cell phones, in fact I can recall when rap began. Sugar Hill Gang anyone? There were different kinds of rap then. Funny rap. Introspective rap. Uplifting rap. Dance rap.

I also recall when you didn't curse in songs. Sounds quaint doesn't it? Nowadays you can hear all kinds of things in songs you didn't hear when I was young. Words that got my mouth washed out with soap are in hit records. Hey, listen to what you want to, I'm just saying.
Me in elay.
I was 21.

Nowadays you say pay phones and land lines to blank faces. It seems everyone is walking around looking down at their phones. It used to be people called and left a message. People couldn't find you. Now it's, "I called you 15 times where were you?"

I remember when Pac man was brand new and everyone ran to play it. We couldn't believe how cool it was. Man, you would go to a certain bar or arcade just because they had it. Now? Go find one. I'll wait.

I remember before computers and the internet. Say what? That's right, before Macs and laptops and iPads and all that. Computers used to be a block long and those were the good ones. Now it seems everyone has one somewhere and I don't know if that's a good thing. But what do I know?
Me and my brother
The Kirkster

Do you know why we have reality shows everywhere? Back in the day, the writers of sitcoms and tv shows went on strike. Networks and studios, instead of renegotiating with them, thought it was cheaper to film people who had their own dialogue and that's where Real Housewives and Honey Boo Boo and Bridezilla and all the rest came from.

My wife and step daughter watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and yours truly has been banned from the TV room when they're on. Why? For saying things like, "It's easy to fall for someone in Tahiti it's when you get back to a studio apartment in Pittsburgh and all the cameras are gone..."

Banned I tell ya.

Remember when our parents first heard rock and roll, when they first saw color teevees, when they first had seat belts? The time before afros the time when only Mr. Clean had a shaved head and an earring?
Griffin, Miles, Jenna, Denise, and Miss Maya.
A long time ago...

That's how I feel.

Today is my birthday.

A wink of an eye.


#MarkMcEwen
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1 comment:

  1. OH MARK...I feel your pain. Every single, solitary second of it that yes.....went by in the blink of an eye.....but hey we're the same age and we're still here!! Carry on.

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