My age odometer turns over

See those white wall tires

My age odometer turns over this week. I won’t tell you my age – many of you know anyway. The rest of you will have to guess. I will give you hints.

Things I miss:

  • My hair – believe it or not it was long, thick, and chestnut
  • Garage bands at high school dances – we never used recorded music
  • And being in a garage band – or should I say a basement band. We had our turn on the stage too. 
  • Live music and dancing at Les Mouettes in Sept-Iles – or at many, many similar venues across Quebec
  • Looking much older than my age! This was a good thing when I was 15. I had easy access to the live music and dancing.
  • The grand excursion to Expo ’67 in my last year of high school. How many people can you cram into a Super Constellation? 
  • Beach parties
  • Whitewall tires and chrome – lots of chrome. The cars were garbage but they sure were pretty!
  • Winter carnivals – I still can’t figure out why I was asked to be escort for our school’s representative for carnival queen two years in a row! It sure was fun though!
  • Teenage friendships – adult friendships are so much more work. 
  • Hockey games – 4000 people jammed into the Sept-Iles Arena on a Sunday afternoon to watch the local men’s team battle our arch-enemies – Baie-Comeau and Rimouski. 
  • My brother, Paul! He left this world too soon and just at the time that the two of us were re-forming an interdependent relationship

I don’t miss

  • My hair – no shampoo, no hair dryers, no wasted time! 
  • A lost year in Québec City – I went from being relevant in high school to irrelevant in University. It was, however, character forming! And humbling!
  • Homework – high school would have been much more fun if I wasn’t expected to learn something
  • Looking much older than my age –  now I like to think I look younger than my age. 
  • Winter carnivals – I no longer appreciate freezing my ass off (I don’t think there are many young readers of these posts)
  • Helping spray DDT in Schefferville – I only did this one weekend but it was disgusting. 

My age odometer turns over

I think it is natural to think back as we grow older. However, the real trick to relevance does not lie in the past. I associate relevance and purpose to working to impact issues of the day. For me these include improving the public realm, homelessness, and affordable living.  So, why am I boring you as my age odometer turns over? Just because it is fun!

And see! I really did have hair!

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