"Where Are You At 62?"

The Weekend Past____

The first football scrimmage on Friday went smoothly, as Lima Perry hosted Van Lue...the Wildcats of VL are to the best of my knowledge, the smallest school in the state to have a Varsity Football team...frankly they performed well with just 15 players in total, 16 if you count the injured lineman, who was in a cast....those kids, if they survive the 10 game regular season, will be as tough as they come.  I don't envy players going "both ways" for an entire game, let alone and entire season, as these guys will have to do.  Brutal is the only thing I can think of....especially considering they will be playing teams with anywhere from 35 to 75 or more players on the roster.  Congrats to them for the guts to do it, and good luck for the upcoming season.  

On Saturday Sam and I headed over to Nicks' to help him move some lumber, and work on the pick-up truck that we would use Sunday to move Sam from his place at the University Apartment complex near Ohio State, to the rental house he will call home for a few weeks...he will then move into a house for the remainder of his stay at OSU, before graduating next Spring.  After getting done at Nick's Sam headed to Columbus...Nick and I would head down yesterday around Noon, and spent some time moving Sam's stuff....taking the back roads home, we arrived back in Celina at 6:30. just before more storms and heavy rains rolled through the area.  A restless night's sleep and I was up at 4:30am...with no scrimmage until tomorrow night at Crestview, I will no doubt hit the sack early again tonight.

The recent rains, have gotten the lawns greening up again, which means more time following the lawn mowers....Oh' Well~another couple of months and that will be a memory, which means shortly I will get out the snow blowers and make sure they are running before Winter hits.  Fall, yes I am ready for, what follows the months from late November through Mid-March?  Not Exactly!

1962 and 62!_____

Back in late 1973 or early 74 the classic movie "American Graffiti" was released...in my mind it was an American Classic, and still is.  I watch it on occasion on the DVD I have, and still marvel at the story line, the music, and the way it hits home with the end of American innocence in that year and those sandwiched around it.

The film centers on the last day of Summer Vacation in 1962....the town in the Southern California valley reminds me much of the small town of Venice, Florida, that I lived in through my Junior High School days....and the time, even though I was just a beginning 8th grader, as opposed to the seniors and just past seniors in the film, I can relate to that time....and that end of Summer, which would be my last in Venice, before the family picked up and moved to Celina, Ohio...The best of times, the worst of times...at least it seemed back then.  The by-line on the movie poster greeted you with "Where were you in 62"?  Well that's were I was...Venice and then Celina....49 years ago to the month, as this summer of "11" winds down.

On the other hand at 62 refers to an age...my age to be exact.  Nothing glorious at turning 62, the age where you can collect Social Security if you choose...which I did.  Nothing glorious about fighting the bulge of the belly almost everyday...which I do.  Or waking up with a new ache and pain on a daily basis, which I do....but....

I can say, I'm pretty damn lucky.  As compared to my late 30s and through my mid 40s I feel pretty damn good.  I've lost 25-30 pounds, I still have my hair, gray as a ghost it may be, but have it I do...and despite a bit of high blood pressure and a spot of diabetes 2, I don't complain about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), I don't blame the Agent Orange from my Vietnam days for any illness I have, and I don't expect or want a damn thing from the US Government or the assholes in public office.  Sure that may all change down the road...maybe I will have to use the VA for my medical issues, and ask the Government for help, but I neither want that, or plan on it...I've just learned to never say never.  Mind you I don't blame the guys that I served with for using every avenue to get what they need from Uncle Sam...but I know who pays the bills, and it's not that Kenyan Asshole in the White House or most of his followers, because most of them have never worked a day in their lives, they are the takers, not those that donate their taxes, time, or charity.

Oldest son Sam made a comment to his mom the other day....which he told me about.  After viewing some new photos on the walls surrounding my desk and this computer station...the quote to her was something like:  "Dad's pretty full of himself, isn't he"?  When he told me, I just laughed....I never thought of it like that....but I did add some photos of myself, the one at the top of this blog and another of me umpiring, one of the South Vietnam Flag and Air Force patches and a badge that my late friend and NCOIC from Nha Trang, Phil Lange gave me before he passed in 2009.

So at 62, with most of my days, months, and years, past me now...full of myself or not, I will continue to do what I can to keep myself healthy and alert....of course in addition to lifting weights, getting better, officiating three varsity sports, etc, I no doubt will continue to drink beer, and smoke an occasional hand rolled cigar....after all, what good is "Being Full of Yourself" if you cannot enjoy it, and the other things that make life worth living regardless of age?

back later>>>>

Photos-Full of myself at 62, I can at least still get my right bicep to look as though I still pump iron, although surly not like a could a decade+ ago, when I was just a mere 50 or so....taking the back roads, mainly Ohio 47 from Columbus, via Waldo and other old towns of my ancestors, you travel through Prospect(another Houseworth stomping ground), Richwood, West Mansfield, and Rushsylvania, and countless other small dots on the map...you come across bridges, and old elevators, many abandoned by population dispersal and time.  I had an original poster like this in my possession for many a year, but now gone...much like those days of the early 1960s, before LBJ and his failed Great Society and his failed war in Vietnam....the memories of my war are but photographs, flags, and badges, the latter given to me by my boss and friend from my Nha Trang days in 1969, TSgt Phil Lange, who passed away 2 years ago in his native New Hampshire.  Phil, seen in this photo from those days enjoying a good cigar.