What a lovely thread! HAPPY 50th
LON!
-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 08, 1999.
OT - A Half-Centurygreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
Thank you for your indulgence of this very off-topic thread, I hope it formats corectly.Today, I mark a half-century. Fifty summers. Fifty winters.
Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars. I cannot count one. I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born. -----Thoreau
Fifty years of minor successes, and meaningless failures. Fifty years of childrens laughter. Easy, easy years, one breath following another, one pathway leading into the next. Years of good fortune, and fair, seeing wishes come into being, and dreams fade away.
Fifty years bereft of terror; neither fire nor frost, little anguish, less regret, neither hunger nor holocaust. Melancholy, only of my own invention. Fifty years deficient in gratitude.
The price you pay for sunshine can sometimes be quite dear when all you have to sell is youth its hard to lose another year my only forced submission has been the rape of time. I only own myself, but all of me is mine. --Rod McKuen, Stanyon Street and Other Sorrows
There have been no awards, no medals, no world-class performances. Fifty years of quiet mediocrity to forestall quiet desperation. Had I the chance, would I live these years differently? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. And perhaps, not.
I have lived always looking within, and cannot say that I have ever been in love with life. Yes, I have loved, as I have worked and lived, and everything has been as ordered. And the words what might have been were only a phrase for fools, and poets.
Somewhere between dreaming of things to be, and living the things that are, I have lost the melody in my progression. Sea and sky, mountain and meadow, canyon and storm; why can I recall only dreams of such urgent beauties? Do the aspirations of youth leave us so quietly?
I have known, surely I have known, that a man can turn away, but never can he escape the beauty of life. I am neither young nor old; I have time to look, time to listen, time to once again find old dreams. And time to live so that when I begin that ultimate adventure beyond the grave, the words what might have been will be only a phrase for poets, and fools. -- Canyon Walls, 1984
Today, write a love letter. Today, gently touch a stranger. Today, give away a smile, where none is required. Today, forget Y2K, the world will begin anew, whenever you wish it so.
They say that man was first an animal; we lived in trees. I dont believe it. The first man was a poet. A poet without paper, without words. His poems were written in his eyes, recited by his touch, made magic by his voice. I wish I had known him. (or have I not?) -------exerpt, The Conversation, Canyon Walls
I wish I could look you in the eye, shake your hand, call you neighbor, but such is not within the constraints of our community. So this alone must be my birthday gift to you. Perhaps you will find it here, wrapped in this gossamer ribbon of cyber-space.
Lon Frank
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 08, 1999
DRATIt looked fine in the "submit" text box, but here it's all run togther. Sorry. I'm obviously not as smart as I look. :
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 08, 1999.
What a lovely thread! HAPPY 50th LON!
-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 08, 1999.
Happy Birthday Lon, and thanks for the post. Birthdays are a natural time for reflection, even for those who may seldom reflect. Your gift to us is well given, as your world begins anew. So too for all of us, whether we realize it or not.(virtual hand shake, LOL)
-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), August 08, 1999.
Lon, happy 50th Birthday, and we are very glad you came back before "the blackberries are ripe." That would have been too long.
-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 08, 1999.
__ _ ( .-.' `; `-._ c~~p '---------. `-`-. (_' .-:' `; `-._ '---'oo ) \ '( @ > 'o"( (_' ) ( 0 0 )/ ) ( (__-' 'o"( )> `=^=' / / ) ( (__'- ) \ ' . / /_' / `-'._.--._( ) \\ !-----'! / \ / !!! !!!`-'._.--._.- !!__! !_!_! ===m""m=== !!! !!!Hippo Birdie Two Ewe
And many more.
-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 08, 1999.
Well, that didn't come out right, but you get the idea.
-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 08, 1999.
Lon, how nice, thanks for that piece. I agree. In my mind, the poets know *everything*I also agree about the love letters. Sit down right now and write how you feel when the sun hits thier hair, when they look at you with that crocked grin, how you love that stubborn, set look in thier chin, they way they look when they think you aren't watching--and you suddenly remember why you feel in love in the first place.
Say things about how the sparkle in their eyes leaves you breathless when they look at you. And how, when you see those big strong shoulders and long lean legs, you fall in love all over again Sigh...I certainly do!(even after 16 years of marriage)
Write the letter to your better half, or children or parents or whomever! Just tell them how much they mean to you and what your life would have been like without them in it...!
I think I'll do that now...
Thanks again Lon!
-- mar (derigueur2@aol.com), August 08, 1999.
Lon,I am a stranger to you, and you have gently touched me. Today, if you could look me in the eye, you would see that your gift has moved me to tears. Thank you.
-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), August 08, 1999.
Thanks all, for your kind responces and wishes. I'm glad you stopped by.And WOW, Gayla. It really, really makes me feel better, knowing you can do all that when I totally screw up on simple text formatting! :
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 08, 1999.
:-) Got speakers?
-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 08, 1999.
Gayla,Yeah, I got speakers, but they're on an aging Mac, running Netscape Navagator. Sometimes I hear the music and sometimes I don't. This time the only thing I hear is your mischevous giggling all the way from Houston! I can only assume that it's "Happy Birthday", done to the tempo of a funeral march. :) I'm thrilled all the same.
Lon
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 08, 1999.
Happy 50th Birthday!WTSHTF, I won't reach mine, so celebrate it for me!
-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 08, 1999.
mar, - I'm glad you caught the part about love letters. Thirty years ago, I was told by someone to never be afraid to write love letters. Sounded strange, but I tried it. Not just to my sweetheart, but to aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. The effect is incredible upon both the reciever and the sender. Later I kept the habit, and incorporated it into business letters. The impact upon an otherwise formal relationship was often tremendous. Of course, I don't mean mushy stuff, like "I dream of your tender mounds of quivering flesh", but just unguarded observations from the heart. Don't be afraid to write love letters. That's advice I give to every young person I know.RUOK, - What can I say. Your response has both honored and humbled me. And FWIW, you're no stranger to me; I've lerned to watch for your postings, they have the ring of reason.
Randolf, - I'm trying my friend. The firetrucks just arrived (candles on the cake, you know). But I'm betting on you too. Remember the Titanic had people who lived to tell the tale to their grandkids.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 08, 1999.
I've had a few email messages which I will try to answer here tomorrow. But for now, it's getting late, and that nice young lady is coming with my medications. So, "Goodnight Mrs. McGillacuty, wherever you are!"Thanks again to all who took the time to share today with me.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 09, 1999.
25 years of marrriage at the end of the month, celebrated this weekend so that certain relatives would DEFINITELY be there (not sure about the end of the month), My Bride shares your birthdate but is only 44 ((55) no wonder she's triskadecaphilic!)Thanks Lon.
Chuck
-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), August 09, 1999.
Welcome to the second half, kid.We didn't tell you about ear-hair trimming or cricks and kinks that don't go away in just a few days. Saving that for a surprise.
Don't you just HATE reading glasses. And, oh, say..hows your teeth? your hair? your.....?
It ain't for sissies. And now you know why we old-farts are so grumpy.
Happy Birthday, Lon
Hallyx
"The older I get, the less I worry about things which I can't control. Whether this is due to apathy or wisdom remains to be seen."---Sean
-- (Hallyx@aol.com), August 09, 1999.
Happy Birthday y'old coot :) It's all downhill from here on in, Slainte!
-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 09, 1999.
OK, Chuck. I give up. I've asked everyone down here on the bayou what "trisakdecaphilic" means, and no body knows. Even my ole cuz' Ignoratium Chalmet, and he's been to Nawleens twice!I suppose it has something to do with the double numbers in her birth year, her age, and the current year. But now, throw in the fact that she was born on the 8th day of the 8th month, and what happens? Lord help us if she happens to be 5'5", or weighs in at 99 pounds. Maybe by 2022, you'll have 11 kids and 44 grandkids. (Hope so, it'll serve you right. Triskadecophile, indeed!)
And for you other wags, my teeth still work fine, thank you. I might add, as to sex, I'm finding it much more enjoyable at this period of life (especially the one in the winter!)
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 09, 1999.
Am rarely driven to post here, but as an avid reader of the OT threads (the on-topic threads are almost redundant to GIs,) I would like to tell you that I appreciate your calm sincerity. I hope your future birthdays are celebrated in more peaceful times. Maybe the reference to N'awlins, the little town thru which I entered this earth, was the prompting factor to respond; more likely, it was the (uncommon) humanity your post so eloquently displayed .BTW, my best guess is that triskadecaphilic describes someone who rabidly fears the number 13. This theory is based on a cursory assumption that tri=three and dec= ten, and philic must be comparable to phobic. Of course, this is probably completely incorrect, since it doesn't explain how she shaved 11 years off the birth certificate. Still wonderin about that one.
Happy trails,
-- respectfully (dovetailer@earthlink.net), August 11, 1999.
dovetailer,I thought this thread was so old by now, that no one else would drop in; glad you made it. And thanks so much for your kind words. I think that is what makes this forum (and the neet itself) so wonderful; it's like putting a note in a bottle, and sending it out into the whole world.
But now, I'm really confused. What DOES "triskadecaphilic' mean. I had hoped Check would return to my rescue, but I know he is quite busy nowadays. Perhaps someone will show up to tell me that I could have looked it up on the net, if I had only been smart enough. (note that it took me three tries just to spell it correctly)
Lon
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 11, 1999.
Lon -I'm just a few summers short of a 50th myself (and winter permanently has arrived on my roof, if ya catch m'drift). Congrats on the milestone, and many thanks for the elegant prose. A great pleasure to read, sir.
We're of the same generation, so I'll make so bold as to correct you just a touch. Jimmy D's signoff was actually "Good night, Mrs. Calabash -- wherever you are!" Loved his show, along with Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, and "I Love Lucy", which is the source of that "Mrs. McGillicuddy". "Luuuuucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!"
Back when you could watch evening TV without feeling like you needed to shampoo the rug afterwards...
-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 11, 1999.
Methinks friend Chuck misspelled (and possibly misused -- O, the shame!) that Greek-rooted word. It's better spelled "triskaidekaphilia", and is most likely the opposite of "triskaidekaphobia" (which as noted above is "an unreasoning fear of the number 13".)The word "philios" is usually rendered as "love" or "deep affection". Now why someone might have "a deep affection for the number 13" is a bit of a mystery to me, but then so's most everything I encounter in life of late... 8-}
-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 11, 1999.
Oh, migosh, Mac. You're right! I can just see that great snozolla wagging above his micheviously sparkling eyes as he said it. I'd totally forgotten who it was.But since you started this journey down memory lane (man, does that sound geezerly), do you remember the Nairobi Trio? I think that was it. Three guys dressed in gorilla suits, mimicing clockwork musicians, one of which always found a way to drum on the other's head. I can still hear the tune, and just thinking about how marvelously silly it was still cracks me up!
Anyway, thanks for clearing up, sorta, that tri-disoc-whatever thing. I wish Chuck would tell us what he meant, though. You think ole Chucky boy was thirteen when they got married, maybe? Nah, me neither. :
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 11, 1999.
Lon -Timely article from today's (8/17/1999) San Diego Union-Tribune: Boomers at 50 resent AARP 'greeting' card
By Jane Clifford (FAMILY TIES EDITOR)
August 17, 1999
Baby boomers turning 50 are getting "birthday" cards that are about as welcome as those draft notices many of them received at 18.
For the generation that views itself as forever young, finding an envelope in the mailbox with the bright blue letters "AARP" in the upper-left-hand corner is, well, a real bummer.
"Who wants to open an envelope with AARP on it?" growled Lloyd Price, who says he's received at least two, maybe three, such envelopes at his Bonita home since his big day in April.
"I just throw them in the trash."
It's a nice big envelope, too. With "Membership Certificate and Temporary Membership Card Enclosed" right above the name. Your name.
"I was shocked," said Jean von Metzke of Clairemont. "I can see them sending these out at 55 or 60 because . . . well . . . I'm 50. And I'm just too young for AARP."
So, apparently, think most of her peers, who are not responding to the "Dear Friend" letter...
-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 17, 1999.
Mac,I KNOW! I got my card a coupla months ago, when I was still a spry and giddy 49-year-old. (But what really ticked me off, was that I got it before my wife, who is actually a couple of months older than I.) Oh well, I won't pretend that I'm not gonna use the senior discount down at Juan Boudreaux's "Gator Taco".
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 18, 1999.
Lon, you are hilarious! :-)
-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 18, 1999.
Gayla,Only another Texan living in Cajun country could find the humor in gator tacos.
Actually, WAY down on the bayou, is a joint (they call 'em "fish camps") where they specialize in gator "balls". A city friend thought they were the equivalent of "mountain oysters". I only assume that she figured we notched their ears at the same time. Try to get a mental picture of THAT.
Lon
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 19, 1999.
Lon, I looked for this thread back when, but couldn't find it - so here belatedly but very sincerely is a birthday wish for a wonderful life to come, whatever may come. And a hug ((Lon))Thanks for the quotations and reflections - lovely thoughts from a lovely man.
-- T the C (tricia_canuck@hotmail.com), September 05, 1999.
Gosh, Trish, (he says as he stubs his bare toes in the dirt), I been called lot's a things before, but....., well, gosh, Trish!
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
Ah, The Nairobi Trio...I hope some of those forward thinking folks who are stashing away tools with which to build the next great civilization have their Ernie Kovacs videos safely cached!
-- flora (***@__._), September 05, 1999.
flora!!!!(Imagine, another living being who remembers the Nairobi Trio!) Your grandad musta told you about it, right? I had forgotten that it was on the Ernie Kovacs show. Do you really have tapes of them? Will you take gold eagles?
Since we've started down this path, just think of all the great comics that came out of the depression of the 30's. I guess when our traditional value systems fail us, we rely on the steadfast things like love, hospitatily, and laughter. I hope that is the case, anyway, and perhaps these most human traits will once again carry through for us all.
I don't know why I've suddenly started thinking of them lately, but remember the "secret word" duck? Or Gertrude and Heathcilff?
Maybe we ought to have a thread of favorite sayings gotten from our childhood:
"Ah, yas, it was my first wife who drove me to drink. I've never properly thanked her."
Or, very appropriate here, flora, "thanks for the memories"....
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
Lon,One of my favorites:
Robber: "Your money, or your life"...{ after a long pause he repeats }
Jack Benny: "I'm THINKING..."
-- flora (***@__._), September 05, 1999.
OOH! OOH! (Shemp impersonation)Or how about Mae West purring,
"When I'm good, I'm good. But when I'm bad, I'm VERY good."
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
Dagnabbit Lon,You started a thread here recently about who'd be desirable to have in camp during the aftermath. I've finally got an answer and can't find where to put it, so here goes:
My first thought was a neighbor here that I've weathered earthquakes, floods, and other assorted events with before. If it's fixable, he can figure a way to get it going. If it's edible, he can figure a way to hunt it down and make it palatable.
In reality, if things get bad, I'd rather have a particular old friend around that knows my funnybone and my hot buttons. We used to share a great love for Kovacs {did you know he was married to Edie Adams - what cigars did she advertise?}. Anyway, sorry for you folks who think this is woefully off-topic. Most of my loved ones are still clueless in LA, I've put myself through the scary movie about what goofy relatives might be the best survivors. Too many Twighlight Zones at an impressionable age!
Anywho, back to my buddy...we've already been through a near-death experience together. It involved a jazz club and rose wine...oy
-- flora (***@__._), September 05, 1999.
I got the message in the bottle, today. A belated happy birthday to you, Lon. Now you've had a chance to look around, tell us what shines brightest in the poet's eyes.Sincerely, Stan Faryna
-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 05, 1999.
flora,White Owls?
BTW, the other thread is "Another Diversion", several down on the new answers page.
I know what you mean about the neighbor who could fix anything. When I was a kid, it seems like we always had someone in the neighborhood like that. All the kids knew to go there when their bikes broke, or your mom would send you down with a mixer on the fritz.
A few years ago, when I bought my bayou property, the gentleman next door had just died. His widow invited me to use his tools, and when I entered his workroom, I imediately felt a kinship with him, and knew that I would have liked him very much. As my grandad would say, " his chisels were sharp".
But everythings different nowadays. My sons have grown up with disposable things. If the stero broke, you didn't fix it - just buy another. (I fear for them; they don't know which end of a screwdriver to use). Who can really fix a car anymore, other than a trained and equipped shop? The phrase, "shade-tree maechanic" has disappeared for good reason.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
Beautiful post Lon, add me to your long list of well wishers. Happy Birthday.
-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), September 05, 1999.
Stan, I'm glad you picked up the bottle. The message was indeed meant for you. (I almost hate to take you away from other threads; I've read your valuable and insightful postings)As to what shines brightest in the eyes of the poet, what else, but wonder. Pick up a toddler, and behold the poet.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
SO glad you made it, Unka D! What kinda party would it be without you and DiETer? I assume you've let him out of his cage for the occasion. (I've saved a bottle of jiggle juice, and a nice shadowy corner just for him.)
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
_ _ __ ____ ____ __ __ | |_| | / \ | __ \ | __ \ \ \/ / | _ | | () | | __/ | __/ \ / |_| |_| |_||_| |_| |_| /_/ ____ ___ ____ _____ _ _ ____ __ __ __ | __ \( )| __ \(_ _)| |_| | | _ \ / \ \ \/ / | __ ( | | | / | | | _ | | |_) )| () | \ / |____/(___)|_|\_\ |_| |_| |_| |____/ |_||_| /_/ ZDBDDDDDDD /3 3 /3 3 //@DADDDDDDD / / // DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD//DDD \ DDDDDDDx xDDDDD/D / DD D. . . D DD DDDD DDDD DDDDDDBDBDDDDDD 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 DDDDY @DDDD DDDD DDDDI raise my glass in your honor Lon, and thank you for this beautiful birthday gift to us.
(please please HTML gods, make it work)
-- Chris (%$^&^@pond.com), September 05, 1999.
Chris, I got the "Happy Birthday" part, (I had to borrow the neighbor lady"s bifocals, though). But the champagne? glass is just a little .... well let's just say it takes some imagination. Serves ya right for showing off! :)I love it.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.
NOW I GET IT!It's a bottle pouring champagne into a glass! (DUH)
I take it all back. You ARE a genius.
-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 05, 1999.