I scroll through FB memories on a regular basis not because I live in the past but because everything I am comes what happened then, now and the future.
Stumbled across a post from almost two years ago called What If They Never Read Your Letter and a smile washed across my face.
I remember everything but I also see the changes and how it connects to It’s A Real Life Version Of Let’s Make A Deal.
Made like Meatloaf and ‘hit the highway like a battering ram’ because I don’t know any other way to do this thing we call life. Got to suck the marrow out of the bone and throw myself into the things that drive me forward and pound my way through the muddy fields of crap that sometimes appear.
Those FB memories take me back to the days of 33s, 45s and 78s. The scratch and his after putting a record on the turntable makes me smile the same way that ding we got after we hit return on a typewriter did.
Some of the attraction has to be the feeling you get when you go back to times that were simpler and easier. Some it is because we naturally are homesick for places, times and moments of memory we can’t ever get back to.
But I never forget the joy of life includes making the memories today and tomorrow that add to those we sometimes sit back and reminisce about.
Some of those include the shared joy of the World Cup and watching tourists roll through America marveling at things we take for granted.
Conversations with Englishmen who are shocked when I tell them the heat hasn’t hit Dallas yet and that I rode a yellow school bus for four years.
Those things aren’t just movie props, they are real. So are the stores we have don’t think twice about, Costco, Target, Wal-mart and Buc-ees.
Some of it reminds me of when I worked at a summer camp outside of Toronto in the summer of ’90. People asked me about freeway shootings, if all Californians surf before school and if my high school life was like Fast Times At Ridgemont High.
Told the MAGA Jews nothing that Trump or Vance has done should be a surprise. This was always going to be like the scorpion and frog proverb except I was never going to be Kermit.
I knew better. I saw them for what they were and what they are.
The guy that had a liver biopsy didn’t expect to have two surgeries in less than a year or require infusions for anemia.
The guy that took that selfie has more gray in his beard and a chunk more on the sides of his head. He wondered what some of the hospital personnel would do if they knew he was MOT. He doesn’t hide any of it but he also doesn’t volunteer it just to do so.
Kind of fun talking about myself in third person but kind of obnoxious so I’ll stop. I saw a big increase in Jew hate before October 7 and a larger one afterwards.
Had another conversation with someone who told me they don’t support Israel because of their disproportionate response. I said that is a term that isn’t used by serious people.
Hamas collectively raped, murdered, tortured and kidnapped more than a 1,000 people. Are you really going to say a proportionate response would mirror that.
No, you aren’t.
The people who use that word don’t explain how Israel should fight back against terrorists who stole billions to build 350 miles of tunnels under Gaza.
Push them for specifics and they say Israel should have done it differently. Right, differently is such a useful term and applicable to almost everything we do in life.
There isn’t much that couldn’t be done differently but that sort of non specific response is used as a tool to hide ignorance and sometimes bigotry.
I can’t tell you that I am 100 percent Mamdani thinks of himself as a Jew hater but I am a 100 percent convinced many of his actions support Jew hate.
I’d feel better if he acknowledged his wife has issues with hate and that he does too. But my feelings aren’t going to be taken into account.
And I am ok with that.
Speaking of the mayor if he doesn’t hate us he sure lacks self awareness about his words and his actions. My gut doesn’t buy that excuse, but because I can’t say I am 100 percent convinced I’ll hedge for a little while longer.
BTW, hedging doesn’t mean I think we should give him a pass. We should pay close attention to his words and deeds because he has given reason for concern.
If we find out we’re wrong we can acknowledge it and move on. That is a sign of intelligence.
A New Car
Somewhere between now and the end of the year I am going to get a new car. Been driving an SUV for most of the last 26 years with a small chunk of time in a sedan.
Played around with going back to one but I think I’ll stay with the SUV or maybe a truck. The next vehicle will take me into my sixties and I am planning on something that won’t be hard to get in and out of.
I smile while writing that because the Yoga is working and I feel flexibility returning. I started it because even though I don’t have any issues getting up and down I want to be prepared for the future.
It is why I do push ups and other body weight exercises. It is why I work on balance.
Those things are fine now but if I want them to stay that way I need to take steps today.
So that next vehicle adheres to that premise too. That next vehicle will be used for road trips and commuting.
The second half of life approaches and I am here for it.
“Try making a list of things and people you could give up. You might be surprised at what and who is left.” Fouker
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