Back to the '70s.....or These Are the Good Old Days

 

We can never know about the days to come

But we think about them anyway....

I don't know what made me think about this song... Anticipation, a big hit for Carly Simon back in the '70s.  I dialed up the video...she's perched on a stool under the lights in Central Park part of a concert that included The Beach Boys and Boz Scaggs.  Her bangs are in her eyes and she

s wearing a long sleeved rust colored dress with lace and fringe.  There was a lot of that going around.  We didn't cut our hair much in the '70s, even when we should have.  Carly Simon had a bunch of hits and was one of the big female artists of that era.  She didn't get a musical like Carole King, but she had a big brash distinctive voice and a long career. 

  I did a double take when I read her age....Carly Simon is 81.

How can that be? The beauty of music is that the good stuff doesn't age....and neither do the recordings.  I listen to the music of long gone composers played by departed musicians every day.  So why shouldn't I accept that the greatest hits of my youth are....well, no more youthful than I.

And I tell you how easy it feels to be with you

And how right your arms feel around me...

I'm going to spare you the color version of this wedding photo.  The '70s, suffice it to say, were not the golden era of formal apparel.  The bridesmaids' dresses were a lovely watercolor blend of mauve and rose, so in a misbegotten attempt to match, my sister and I chose tuxes of a really light beige?  Add to that the wide lapels, the butterfly bowties, the satin edging and the fact that all the men's pants were too long? It's a brave soul married in that era who publishes their wedding pictures.  Time is a judge; the color film used back then is fading away so that all evidence of pastel costuming will vanish.  However, all the hair shows up just fine in black and white.  We could really grow hair in our youth..... there was even a musical called Hair that was actually about a lot of other things that predated our years....

So I'll try and see into your eyes right now

And stay right here, 'cause these are the good old days

And stay right here, 'cause these are the good old days.

The Cardinals are letting another game slip away.  Blake is in Minnesota with Millie and Charlie, fishing.  Millie catches the first fish, as she always has.  But Blake sent a video of a monster northern, so he gets those honors today.  Because of the miracles of modern technology they got to watch at least part of  the volleyball jamboree and they plan to be back for the first football game of the season.  

 The combine is out of the shed as the corn dries down and we hope for another rain to make the bean crop.  

Its been a great tomato year.  Can't give them away.

Over the years, we've spent August 27th doing a variety of activities:  Farm Bureau meetings and meals all over the state.  Playing bad golf at the Communitee Golf tournament.  Vacations in Michigan, Wyoming, South Dakota.  Football Jamborees.  Volleyball.  Hauling mums.  Not every year gets a picture.  One year the only photo is of a bucket of tomatoes. Another year, a double layer cake.  We celebrated Levi's first arrival in Missouri on August 27, 2012.  Multiple times, we've dined on burgers or BLTS.

In 2017, a tough year, a toast to making it through.  A reminder that every anniversary is " one of the good old days."

Happy 47....

Twenty Two and Counting

When I saw the column of smoke from ten miles away, I didn't realize it was a house fire. 

 A completely different situation than twenty two years ago when we got the call on the 2-way from Charlie saying their home was burning.  From our house, it was just a thin wisp of gray.  But when we pulled into the driveway a few minutes later, the smoke was billowing black, though we couldn't see the flames.  No one was hurt that bitter January evening, but of a houseful of memories  nothing remained but icy cinders. The next day, they sifted through the ashes for Millie's diamonds, the only things that could have survived the heat.

That was January 1997, just a few days after Christmas when they showed off, as number one fans, their newest Tarkio Indian shirts, personalized for Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Millie.

I've been going through the piles of massive photo albums upstairs, scanning photos both memorable and mundane.  In subtle and drastic ways, life is quite different in century 21 even as the milestones we measure and celebrate maintain a recognizable rhythm. 

Winter sports dominated our week nights back then...high school basketball...and a few weeks later, after the Homecoming ceremonies, Millie and Charlie got their 'replacement jerseys' from their grandchildren.

Like this year, there were exciting wins and crushing losses, but, more often, we celebrated humble victories and small milestones with ribbons and photos and donuts.

Do you want to do 18 again?

That year Annie came to Washington, D.C. with us: the magnolias bloomed, bison grazed on the Smithsonian lawn and Grandma Millie and Grandpa Charlie got us into the White House after hours.  Ann thought it smelled....

It would be decades before we got in there again!

And Josh didn't mention any particular odors....

There were prom pictures that year....and a high school graduation....and someone in the family turned 40....

I've been on 'mustache watch' while I've been peeking into the past, and clearly forty years of life had not yet convinced Blake that facial hair wasn't his best choice. 

He wasn't alone.

June and July 1997 gave us birthdays and baseball. June and July 2019 gave us birthdays and baseball....and more baseball....and more baseball...and for a change of pace, some Bach.  County Fair 1997 meant stubborn steers that made a hobby of chewing their halters in two, but hogs rule the roost in 2019.  Whatever the year, the show ring was chock full of brothers and sisters and cousins.....

In 1997, we sent the first kid to college...

...it wasn't easy.

And just like this year, fall 1997 brought harvest and Homecoming, floats and football, volleyball, and, of course, the Lord's Acre Day parade to remind us to give thanks not just for our crops, but in all things.

It's so easy to be tempted by nostalgia for what appears to be both an easier and happier time.  Like the most appealing portrayals on social media, (which didn't exist in 1997!) these photos tend to follow the motto, "I count only sunny hours."  We don't remember the records of the 1997 Indians...or the Missouri Tigers....or even the St. Louis Cardinals.  Or  what the corn yields were or how many times it rained. 

We can survive fires and storms; we do count ourselves blessed by babies and birthday cakes and Christmas cookies and all those other iconic bookmarks of photographic history.  And we miss those who are with us now only in photographs and memories; we can't help but mourn the past that has passed even as we carry on and build upon it.  

With Thanksgiving.....