Getting Older

 

Yesterday was my birthday.  52.  A good age.  I went to Food Not Bombs. It was pouring rain when I got there and it was unclear at first where we were going to go.  Not in the open air at the top of the fountain as usual.  Not in the band shell where we usually meet on rainy days because they were set up for a youth fair of some kind.  Rides for the kiddies, entertainment, food, fun.  So the stage was spoken for.  We ended up in a covered area which is mainly used to get into the restrooms.  The tables were set up.  Food spread out.  It was kind of cramped and we were mostly soaked.  People are hungry even in the rain so it was especially good feeling despite being wet.  At least it was a warm rain.

 

I knew it was close to the birthday of Maris, a friend who is a regular server.  I had gotten a few emails about a get together and some live music this week.  So I said happy birthday and mentioned that it was my birthday as well.  She gave me a big old Happy Birthday back-at-ya.  It was overheard by several folks waiting in line to be served whose faces I know but whose names I do not. It felt pretty special to get Happy Birthdayed by this group who I care so much about.

 

When I got home I was reading the newspaper; the PEOPLE page which includes birthdays of celebs.  It was kind of interesting to see who all was born on the same day.  Let me state that I am not a big believer in astrology.  No, I am a disbeliever altogether.  I don’t look at my horoscope.  Never have.  I do know that I am a GEMINI, but I don’t really know what that means.  Twins, right?  Am I supposed to be tempermental?  Or just mental?  Superficial?  Or just super? 

 

Turns out Gary Burghoff was born on this day (66 years ago).  I think he was the actor who played Radar on M*A*S*H.  He was a pretty cool guy.  How did he get that old?  Patti LaBelle.  Singer.  65.  Hey!  I sing too – but I ain’t no Patti LaBelle.  Pricilla Presley is 64 today.  It has her down as “actress” but I don’t think I ever saw her act in anything.  An evening soap maybe?  I know her as the bride of Elvis.  Didn’t she marry him at 13 or 14?  That was weird.  Alfred Molina is 56 today.  Didn’t he play Dr. Octavius (Doc Ock) in Spiderman?  Pretty cool.  Rosanne Cash is 54.  She’s a country singer-songwriter.  I have one of her albums.  It’s very sweet.  She is talented.  Hey!  I write songs too!  But I ain’t no Rosanne Cash.  At this point the list got younger and younger and I didn’t really recognize anyone… Heavy D. (rapper-recording exec), Billy Sullivan (actor), Cody Hanson (rock musician – Hinder).  It seems I’m out of the loop for those celebs younger than myself.  Oh well.

 

There was the double picture thing where you try to guess who is older.  It wasn’t much of a contest.  It was Bob Dylan and Tommy Chong.  Tommy had this bandanna on with wisps of white hair and a snow-white beard.  It looks like he’s been rode-hard-and-put-away-wet.  No offense, by the time I’m 71 I might look like that.  Although, hopefully, I’ll have a few more live brain cells than Tommy.  Bob is also looking a little ripe at 68 but I understand that he is still cranking out the tunes.  Hey!  I crank out the tunes too.  But I ain’t no Bob Dylan.  Anyway, I guess I’m in good company.  Look at this bunch of GEMINI’s. 

 

It reminds me of this funny song by John Gorka (one of my favorite singer-songwriters… I don’t know his sign).  It’s called “People My Age”

 

 

People my age

Have started looking gross

I cannot say all

And I shouldn't say most

I've seen 'em in the grocery

I've seen 'em up close

And people my age

Have started looking gross

 

People my age

Are showing some wear

There's holes where their teeth was

And their heads have gone bare

Their brains are shrinking

Faces sinking into fat

And as for the mirror

We won't be looking into that

 

People my age

Have started looking gross

Maybe not in Colorado

Or up the Silicon Coast

Back in Pennsylvania

I'd eat scrapple on toast

Those were my first steps

On the road to looking gross

 

People my age

Are looking overripe

Some are getting operations

To tighten up what ain't tight

What gravity's ruined

They try to fix with a knife

What's pleasant in the darkness

Is plain scary in the light

 

Gross

 

 

 

Click here if you want to see/hear John sing this.  He explains Scrapple too.  It’s like SPAM he says, but without the health benefits.