Being 37 Again!

What do I remember about being 37? Let’s see. I was married 12 years, I’d been working at the University of Illinois–Chicago campus for 9 years, I had just quit smoking (that lasted 7 years, but alas!) and I had made an admission to myself that was to prove healthy in the long term: I admitted to myself I was gay and it was OK. I didn’t do much about that admission, but 13 years later our marriage ended and I finally explored, at age 50 (!), what it meant to be gay. Talk about slow developer!

Oh yes, when I was 37 I bought my first convertible, a 1967 beat up Chrysler 300 with a 440 cubic inch engine and 4 barrel carburetor. It was a fun vehicle but got 8 miles to the gallon, sometimes less! It had more than 98,000 miles on it but still ran pretty good.

Why the reminiscence? Because today is my son’s 37^th birthday and I wanted to give him a shout out! Way to go Johnny!!

His life situation and mine at the same age are not comparable. He is newly married, no kids yet. Ann and I had John and his sister Elizabeth. He has a terrific modern condo in the city while we had the 100 year-old house in the far west suburbs. Of course we had an assortment of cats and dogs while John has none. We had broken down furniture while his is new designer décor. He commutes from his den while I commuted 4 hours a day by walking on both ends of the trip with a long train ride in between.

Those days we struggled with living costs like everyone else and mostly made do on one salary. Not easy but still a good life and comfortable. We lived in a great neighborhood with good friends and schools. We led involved and rewarding lives. It was a good time.

Of course memories are often tinged with the pleasant and fond feelings. Better that than the opposite. But still, 1980 was an era of sky rocketing oil prices, energy costs, inflation of food prices and everything else we needed to buy. Interest rates were through the roof and international tensions were roiling. We remember severe winter weather, the worst being the winter of 1978-79 with 93 inches of snow in Wheaton (IL) for the season, plus some of the lowest temperatures on record for the region. Winters of 1979-80 and 1980-81 were severe and uncomfortable as well. Well out of norm. Commuting was a major effort then.

But life seemed clearer then. There was work to be done. Problems to fix. Career to build. Savings to grow for the kids’ college education. Challenges, yes; insurmountable, no! Futures were available and exciting. We’d been to the moon, new industries were on the cusp of discovery (think electronics before the Niagara Falls of rapid expansion!). Employment opportunities were everywhere.

What of today? What challenges do we have? How are our sons and daughters going to handle them and grow with them? Is their future exciting? Will they invent the way out of our current labyrinth of huge problems? I think they will. I have faith in their abilities and common sense. I have that faith in my kids for sure; but their generation is amazing as well.

I remember itching to get at the adult life when I was younger. I wanted some of the old guard to get out of the way so we could have a chance to do a better job. Little did I know how much worse off our generation handled the public’s business.

Here’s hoping for the best with the next generation. May you be fired by the passions we had, by the knowledge you have already surpassed, and may you develop wisdom fast enough to bridge the gaps between people who don’t agree with one another. With those tools you will do well. Meanwhile, let me continue my work to wear down the cynics and non-believers. Maybe I can be of use to you yet!

Happy Birthday Johnny Cakes!

December 14, 2011