Well it happened again. I got up , turned on the computer and logged onto Facebook. Thankfully Facebook returned the birthday notifications to my page. I did miss that feature when they decided to suspend it. Anyway, it is back and I noticed it was someone's birthday. I won't mention any names but I knew this individual when I was a kid. He lived next door to my Uncle and was older than me. He was, in fact, married. Yes, I even purchased a used outboard motor off this gentleman. That's how I figured he was old, married, with a house of his own, a wife, and selling stuff. Yup, he was a grown up for sure. I never knew his age and after joining the Navy and moving away I hadn't really thought much about him. He was just an older guy that lived next door to my Uncle. I heard later on that we were related by marriage in some fashion. His wife is related to my Uncle, or something like that. The truth is, many years went by and one day I met him again, here on Facebook. Well, I expect that has happened to a great number of us, old acquaintances, friends and family finding each other through this world of social media. Today I learned his age. He is just eleven years my senior. I looked at the number and thought, he's only 77? I thought he was older than that. Only 77, then it struck me, I must be pretty old too! If I can say he is only 77 what is that saying about me? Do you know what I mean? I'm old enough that 77 doesn't sound old! It's only eleven years, a single decade, I've got plenty of things in my attic older than that, that I bought brand new. Well then, Happy Birthday.
It happened again because this isn't the first time I 've been struck by this phenomenon. It's a sorta reverse time travel thing. It happens when you are transported back in time to find the " adults " you knew weren't much more than big kids! It isn't a slur to say they were , big kids, just a description. When I was in my twenties I was just a big kid, some will say I still am but that's another topic. What I mean is, just because you're married, have a home and a steady job, that doesn't make you an adult, a grown up. That is something that may or may not happen. It is an amazing thing this time traveling thing. In 1960 I was seven years old, I remember that. Someone 17 was pretty darn old. Heck my brother was in the Navy at seventeen. That's pretty much being a grown up wouldn't you say? Truth is, not so much. We do have to be a big kid to handle all of that, but you're still just a big kid really. I remember when I joined at 18 and went to boot camp, and my first ship. I was there with a lot of other kids. Most of us acted that way too. I wouldn't describe our choices as mature. We hadn't " buckled " down as it where to the adult lifestyle. Someone that had been in the Navy for ten years was definitely an old salt! If they planned to stay twenty years and retire at forty, those guys were lifers. That's right, that is the term applied to those that stay in the service for twenty years or more, lifers. It's an entire lifetime. As an adult we are encouraged to buy a twenty year CD. In todays world a mortgage is usually thirty years. A lifetime and a half! We finance a car for seven years without a thought.
Yes I saw that birthday and posted my salutation. Happy Birthday. That person isn't nearly as old as I would guessed. The guessing coming not from appearance, the guess coming from what I remember. I remember this older guy next door to my Uncle. I needed an outboard for my boat. My Uncle introduced me saying, this is the man that can help you. I did buy that used Johnson outboard off him, a 25 horsepower model. I'm thinking I was about 16 or so when that happened. It may be the last time I interacted with him in person. That motor may have been a 1960 model. It was a fine motor and I would be proud to own it today. Heck it would only be sixty years old, plenty of life left in it. I don't remember it as an antique. Funny thing, I remember that guy being old, at least to a sixteen year old he was. Turns out, he was just a kid, not that much older than myself. Seventy seven, ain't that old.
It happened again because this isn't the first time I 've been struck by this phenomenon. It's a sorta reverse time travel thing. It happens when you are transported back in time to find the " adults " you knew weren't much more than big kids! It isn't a slur to say they were , big kids, just a description. When I was in my twenties I was just a big kid, some will say I still am but that's another topic. What I mean is, just because you're married, have a home and a steady job, that doesn't make you an adult, a grown up. That is something that may or may not happen. It is an amazing thing this time traveling thing. In 1960 I was seven years old, I remember that. Someone 17 was pretty darn old. Heck my brother was in the Navy at seventeen. That's pretty much being a grown up wouldn't you say? Truth is, not so much. We do have to be a big kid to handle all of that, but you're still just a big kid really. I remember when I joined at 18 and went to boot camp, and my first ship. I was there with a lot of other kids. Most of us acted that way too. I wouldn't describe our choices as mature. We hadn't " buckled " down as it where to the adult lifestyle. Someone that had been in the Navy for ten years was definitely an old salt! If they planned to stay twenty years and retire at forty, those guys were lifers. That's right, that is the term applied to those that stay in the service for twenty years or more, lifers. It's an entire lifetime. As an adult we are encouraged to buy a twenty year CD. In todays world a mortgage is usually thirty years. A lifetime and a half! We finance a car for seven years without a thought.
Yes I saw that birthday and posted my salutation. Happy Birthday. That person isn't nearly as old as I would guessed. The guessing coming not from appearance, the guess coming from what I remember. I remember this older guy next door to my Uncle. I needed an outboard for my boat. My Uncle introduced me saying, this is the man that can help you. I did buy that used Johnson outboard off him, a 25 horsepower model. I'm thinking I was about 16 or so when that happened. It may be the last time I interacted with him in person. That motor may have been a 1960 model. It was a fine motor and I would be proud to own it today. Heck it would only be sixty years old, plenty of life left in it. I don't remember it as an antique. Funny thing, I remember that guy being old, at least to a sixteen year old he was. Turns out, he was just a kid, not that much older than myself. Seventy seven, ain't that old.
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