Happy Birthday to Me

I’ve been getting very nostalgic today. My Birthday is tomorrow, so I am allowed to do this sort of thing. Yesterday, I spent the day on the beach ogling young women. I thoroughly enjoy thinking about the “good old days”. The days of my youth were uncomplicated. They were days of freedom, days of learning and days of simple enjoyment of life.

This morning I received a call from an “old friend” (The Captain - he’ll be 66 on the 4th of July) wishing me a happy birthday (he remembered). When were young, we live in the same neighborhood in Chicago. Although he is a few years older than I, we became friends when I drove a softball into his father’s car windshield while playing street ball.

Prior to that time my cousin (AKA the Admiral), the Captain and their other friends were well known for torturing me. They once put me into a 55 gallon trash can and then later dropped me into a Coal Bin at an abandoned warehouse. Picking on the little (and I was not so little) kid was fun. But this is the price that I paid for hanging with the older guys. I was 11 or 12 at the time and they were in their teens. To me, it was well worth the price of being abused.

Today, I reminisce on the “good old days”, tomorrow I’ll reflect about the past year (as I do on all my birthdays). Tonight, I’ll be staggering up to the Bar to see my old boss, who is also a dear friend, and will usher in the anniversary of my birth at 1:29 AM.

The Beach Bum