Childhood, faraway friends and the Bionic Man

Big house party just down the road. I can hear the reggae band pounding away...but I'm far enough down the road that it just drifts to me on the breeze, every now and then. It's an early Saturday night. Seems there's been sad news making the rounds lately. Started with Sarah Burke, Etta James and has ended, for now, with a tragedy somewhat closer to home. Brought to mind one of my favorite poems: Death Be Not Proud, by John Donne.

My birthday came and went on Tuesday. Was a great day. A quiet day spent with my dad and a seemingly endless stream of well wishes from good friends and family - world-wide. Went to lunch at Tequilas and then  tapped into our buried childhoods. Went to the Carousel for ice cream. Was wonderful. The lights, the music. I have to take my hat off to the eccentric millionaire for building that place so that people like me and my dad could  relive a childhood memory. Blew my mind in it's beauty. My dad was awe-struck by the whole thing - the ice cream, the setting, the beautiful carousel. Was something truly wonderful to see as his eyes grew cloudy with a far away childhood memory. Close your eyes and you're young again, and the world seems fresh...you feel invincible. To feel like that, for even a few brief moments, is an irreplaceable moment.

Been thinking of distant friends, both physically distant, and distant in other ways. Friends and family scattered around the world.I hope they all take a moment to glimpse back into childhood with a smile, a helpless chuckle at some long forgotten memory of times that were gilded with gold.

As the distance sound of reggae drifts through the house, I settle in for an early night. The breeze is tickling the trees outside, causing the leaves to dance in time to the reggae below. A few clouds scuttle across a mostly clear sky as the stars wink down. Will indulge my new kick for an old favorite: Lee Majors...LOL Do NOT ask. Something about an unresolved childhood crush. Still ongoing, apparently as I watch Big Valley nearly every night at midnight for my dose of Lee Majors in a cowboy persona. hahahaha So, I downloaded the Six Million Dollar Man TV series. Another fleeting glimpse of a childhood past. I was 4 when the series came out - 1974 - and I still remember sitting in front of the giant TV, on the floor that was covered with green shag carpeting. The sounds of my mother in the kitchen as the scent of a home-made marinara sauce drifted through the house. I would sit impatiently through the commercials and then sit as quiet as a mouse, mesmerized by the full color images of the bionic man on the screen. Geez...how can anything ever live up to the standards of a young girl's crush on a bionic man? :-D