We wont get fooled again?
I was a bit apprehensive as I knocked on the door. The person I was seeking out was late for her own birthday party. She had just finished a morning brunch party with her family an hour earlier and she was probably resting, after all she was 104 years old today. I tapped softly on her door fully expecting no response. That would have been fine with me since I was not really looking forward to barging in as a stranger to this woman's apartment. But instead I heard a faint, " Please come in" , from inside the room. I opened the door to find her sitting on the couch leafing thru her birthday cards. I explained who I was and that her presence was requested by her friends downstairs for her second birthday party of the day. She practically sprang to her feet with the query, " More cake?" I assured her that there would indeed be cake and that I was her escort. As we walked to the elevator at a surprisingly rapid pace I asked her for words of wisdom from somebody who had years before pasted the century mark. She stopped and looked up at me as we got to the elevator and squeezed my hand and said that everyone assumes because she has lived a long time people think that she has cornered the market on wisdom. Not always true. She did say that she has learned to enjoy remembering the past but said that if you wish things were as the use to be then you will miss what is happening right in front of you. Important things like...cake.
I know that has been said by many in different ways and I didn't much think about it until later this week at the concert of an old band that I hadn't seen in years and who ,(hint hint...lol), used be the very picture of young, loud, rowdy rock n' roll that I loved. Now they were a shell of themselves and I once swore that I would never want to see them or any of my other adolescent idols of music mayhem in the declining years. Rock was young and always should be I thought.
Well the show was slow to start and with lowered expectations I figured I would least get a last chance to see these rock gods one more time before the end. The show picked up steam and I thought why not just enjoy some music instead of thinking about what the band used to be. Even back then as with a lot of what I remember as the glorious past the band had its faults. Members passing out on stage, out of tune, showing up late, etc but somehow in my memory that is all forgiven because both they and I were young.
I enjoyed the show despite my attitude going in. I accepted the band as they are now. Still able to perform but different than what they were. I guess that is the point in a lot of things ...nothing stays the same. Who would want it to? We have a certain comfort level that helps us cope better if we know some things will always stay the same important things like gravity, the taste of a good beer and the loyalty of friends. But the rest of the world is moving all of the time and its better to move with it because it as somebody once said "time and tide wait for no man".
So I enjoyed a night out and my ears are still ringing ( but that isn't from last nights concert but from the hundreds before it) .....so it wasn't the band like it used to be....heh ..neither am I ....so like a slightly older new friend said to me "enjoy the cake in front of you".
I was a bit apprehensive as I knocked on the door. The person I was seeking out was late for her own birthday party. She had just finished a morning brunch party with her family an hour earlier and she was probably resting, after all she was 104 years old today. I tapped softly on her door fully expecting no response. That would have been fine with me since I was not really looking forward to barging in as a stranger to this woman's apartment. But instead I heard a faint, " Please come in" , from inside the room. I opened the door to find her sitting on the couch leafing thru her birthday cards. I explained who I was and that her presence was requested by her friends downstairs for her second birthday party of the day. She practically sprang to her feet with the query, " More cake?" I assured her that there would indeed be cake and that I was her escort. As we walked to the elevator at a surprisingly rapid pace I asked her for words of wisdom from somebody who had years before pasted the century mark. She stopped and looked up at me as we got to the elevator and squeezed my hand and said that everyone assumes because she has lived a long time people think that she has cornered the market on wisdom. Not always true. She did say that she has learned to enjoy remembering the past but said that if you wish things were as the use to be then you will miss what is happening right in front of you. Important things like...cake.
I know that has been said by many in different ways and I didn't much think about it until later this week at the concert of an old band that I hadn't seen in years and who ,(hint hint...lol), used be the very picture of young, loud, rowdy rock n' roll that I loved. Now they were a shell of themselves and I once swore that I would never want to see them or any of my other adolescent idols of music mayhem in the declining years. Rock was young and always should be I thought.
Well the show was slow to start and with lowered expectations I figured I would least get a last chance to see these rock gods one more time before the end. The show picked up steam and I thought why not just enjoy some music instead of thinking about what the band used to be. Even back then as with a lot of what I remember as the glorious past the band had its faults. Members passing out on stage, out of tune, showing up late, etc but somehow in my memory that is all forgiven because both they and I were young.
I enjoyed the show despite my attitude going in. I accepted the band as they are now. Still able to perform but different than what they were. I guess that is the point in a lot of things ...nothing stays the same. Who would want it to? We have a certain comfort level that helps us cope better if we know some things will always stay the same important things like gravity, the taste of a good beer and the loyalty of friends. But the rest of the world is moving all of the time and its better to move with it because it as somebody once said "time and tide wait for no man".
So I enjoyed a night out and my ears are still ringing ( but that isn't from last nights concert but from the hundreds before it) .....so it wasn't the band like it used to be....heh ..neither am I ....so like a slightly older new friend said to me "enjoy the cake in front of you".