Up with the chickens

Time and Place influence everything. I was raised in a different time and a different place. The time was the late fifties to the late sixties. Those were the formative years for me. The place was East Hampton on Long Island in New York State. Now a lot of folks think New York is New York City but that couldn't be farther from the truth. It is a fact that New York City is about 100 miles west of East Hampton, but to us it may as well have been a thousand.
Potato farmers and fishermen were the main population. A mixture of the Gloucester fishermen and sod busters ! Hard living,hard working people. A little bit clannish and very opinionated. A time and place when men were men and expected to behave that way. Those that didn't conform were tolerated alright but eyed with suspicion.
My father was raised there and his father before him. Both were alternatively fishermen and tradesmen. If they weren't fishing they might be repairing automobiles,building houses ,doing plumbing or marine mechanics. They were hard men. They worked hard and played hard. In keeping with the time and place they tended to enjoy smoking cigarettes and drinking. It was what was expected. An occasional fight wasn't out of the question either.
During this time the legal drinking age in New York state was 18. I graduated from high school and soon thereafter turned 18. I was to leave for the Navy soon as well. Naturally I wanted to try out this drinking stuff. I had had a few sips before ,when no one was watching,but now I was legal. There were a few legendary establishments I just had to try. Maggies,Jungle Petes,Smugglers Cove and Albies to name a few. In the first two my Dad was fairly well known from years gone by. He still stopped in on occasion, but it would be late afternoon and he didn't stay long. Those days for him had passed.
Like most young men I went at it with gusto. The bowling alley was another hot spot back in the day. It was there that I discovered rum and coke. Went down smooth enough and I drank my fill. Things were a lot different back then. I drove home. No one would question that back then. The bartender wasn't concerned that he would be sued,your friends didn't want to confront you about your ability to drive and that was it. Luckily I managed to make it home without hurting anyone or anything. I made quite a bit of noise getting into the house and going to bed. Before I knew it my father was standing over me and hollering," get up " " there is work to be done ". It was morning already ! Oh man, I don't feel so good. My father wasn't what you would call sympathetic. Then he offered some advice.
If you want to fly with the eagles,you have to learn to get up with the chickens !
That is all he said about that. I got up and went to work with him. I'm sure he was chuckling the whole time too. I'd like to say I learned my lesson that first time but that wouldn't be accurate. I did have a few other occasions where I did a little too much flying. I can say ,however, that I never missed getting up with the chickens ! In today's world this whole story would be looked at in a different light altogether. Time and Place,Time and Place. The lesson is still true. That will never change.