Drifting Through Paradise

Sunday after we left the hospital, we headed over to Justin’s Deli to meet the Musician and his wife for dinner before heading over to South Park to listen to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra perform ‘That’s Amore!’.

The Terror Behind the Wheel of the White Corolla and her husband where originally planning on coming as well, but had to cancel due to other plans, but at the last minute called and said they could make dinner but not the show. Which ended up being a nice surprise for the Musician, being 20 plus years since he has seen any of the four of us.

I had never been to a Justin’s Deli before, and it was a pleasant treat me. The food is all organic, no additives. Fresh salad and sandwiches, sweet tea made with pure cane sugar. The conversation during dinner was about how the neighborhood had changed through the years, what happened to some of the people we all knew and lost touch with, and what we’ve been up to the last twenty years.

Sitting at the table eating, the woman I love to my left, the Musician, his wife and kids across from me, T.T.B.T.W.O.T.W.C. (I really need to come up with something shorter for her) and her husband to my right. I found it interesting how when we were kids the coolest computers available were Texas Instrument pocket  calculators, to make a call you had to be in your house or at a phone booth. But we are together here at the deli, cell phones in pockets, because of a reconnection on Face Book. The internet gave us the chance to reconnect from 500 miles away. Its interesting how far we’ve grown. Not just as a society but as individuals.

Back in the day, we went to see Ozzy , KISS, Maiden, and many other rock shows. After leaving the deli that night, we enjoyed the orchestra in the Park. I’ve agreed with the Buffett song “Growing Older But Not Up” for many years now. Afraid if I did, I would lose “that bartenders ear and beachcombers style, Piratical nerve and a vaudevillian style” that I have. I look at my old friend from high school, who as a boy taught me how to play the drums and guitar. Bringing my enjoyment of music to an intellectual level. He showed me it was more than just the sounds to it. In the driveway of the house he grew up in, it was his Father that showed me how to change a set of brakes on a car. He taught me the enjoyment of working and maintaining a vehicle yourself.

I look at each us around the table, and think about timing once again. Timing in the maintenance of your vehicle; the timing in music; timing of technology. More timing. Growing was all about the timing.

The last twenty years have been interesting, to say the least. What will the next twenty bring?
Only Timing will tell….