It Seems So Long Ago

To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward. 

Margaret Fairless Barber,

Good morning everyone.  We've been having some pretty tropical weather here, and hopefully the storms today will wash it all away.  The older I get, the less I can take the humidity, and hubby, well, aside from his doctors, he's been pretty much housebound. 

I chose to go to the Center yesterday rather than Qigong.  The rain had not yet started, but the Center is only one bus away and so much closer.  Getting home in a storm would not have been as difficult.  I'm glad I made that decision.  Every so often a man travels all the way from Long Island to run this group for us.  He has a Masters in Music and really knows his stuff, but what he brings for us is old music, really old.  What he brings is usually before my time, but I really enjoy it.  Yesterday he brought us a DVD he had put together.  The crowning point of the video was Rose Marie of the Dick Van Dyke show.  She was only five years old and boy could she belt out a song.

Oh my, aren't I the one who only about a week ago said I had too much on my plate and had to start paring down some?  But, I never listen to my own advice.  Yesterday I was approached by one of my peers who asked if I would be interested in joining a committee to work with the homebound.  This involves reaching out to members who for some reason or other can't get out of their homes to attend.  It is to let them know that they are not forgotten.  This should prove to be interesting as I was pretty much homebound myself last winter.  Let's hope this winter isn't as bad.  

Recently I joined an online group for old hippies, and I have been loving it. So many memories, so many things I had forgotten.  Coming of age in the 60's was like no other.  We were among the first of the 'baby boomers' to come of age, and we didn't do so quietly.  We changed the world.  We were bold, adventurous, and free...and not afraid to speak up about what we wanted.  I have to chuckle when I think about our motto...'never trust anyone over 30'.  And look at me now, I'm 68.  Seems so long ago.

I remember Washington Square Park was my favorite place to be.  Something was always going on, both day and night.  I'd tend bar until 4 am and head over to the park (which was right across the street from where I was living).  There were always people there, and it was always lively no matter what time you went.   And one didn't have to be afraid to be there after dark like we are now. There was always someone walking about selling weed, basically out in the open.  Now they walk about selling cigarettes. 

The hotel I lived in was through the arch and to the left, right across the street. This is the famous 'circle' The 'circle' was always busy with young artists--singers, musicians, comedians. I was blessed to have seen the original stars of Saturday Night Live before they even thought of appearing on television. My boyfriend at the time also lived at the old Earle Hotel.  He was a singer from Georgia who came to New York hoping to make it big.   He never did and broke my heart when he went back home. He sounded exactly like John Denver, and whenever I hear the song I think of him. I wonder whatever happened to him.

But, that all seems so very long ago.  If you count a generation as 20 years, almost three generations have been born since then.  Today the area has been taken over by NYU.  College students are everywhere.  Oh, the artists still perform in Washington Square, but it is not the same.  There is a different aura there now.  Of course, to many who have never been there, Washington Square is a fun place to be, but for those of us who were there during its hayday, there is something missing.  But change is a part of life.  Still, it seems so long ago.