"Ah, But I Was So Much Older Then . . .

. . . I'm younger than that now." Bob Dylan, My Back Pages.

Someone recently asked me if, now that the Covid-19 restrictions are lessening (at least for now) if I would be shaving my "quarantine beard." I said no, why would I?

"Because you look younger without it."

Me: "You mean younger than 70? Why would I want that? Because that's what I am."

I am not ashamed to be 70. As of now I am in good health (knock wood) and relatively good living conditions (wood again). I regard those 70 years as hard-earned, and that I have gotten here in the way I am is a blessing, if not a miracle.

I am "young" enough to ride my bicycle regularly and to enjoy walks in the nearby woods. And skydive. I've adapted (mostly) to the digital age, but I did have the privilege of growing up in analog times, and to have gone through my childhood and youth without any major stressors; unlike say Gen-Z people, those who grew up in the shadow of 9/11 and now have to cope in a world and economy turned upside down by the virus (and now the BLM crisis on top of that, not to mention very real global warming).

So in a way I have gotten the best of both worlds.

I recall lyrics from Going Back, a Phil Collins song, via the Byrds:

"But thinking young and growing older is no sin
And I can play the game of life to win."

Still, I do miss those younger days, when my life was simpler because my world was smaller. Letting them go is bittersweet. I'm thinking here really young, pre-teen, when that world began each morning in my parental home, and ended there, safely, each evening, with a lot of unfettered living and learning happening in between.

So let's close here with another bit of Dylan lyrics, from I Don't Want to Do It, a little-known song recorded by George Harrison:

"Looking back upon my youth
The time I always knew the truth.
I don't want to do it.
I don't want to say goodbye.

To go back in the yard and play
If I could only have another day."

But, anyway, goodbye for now.

GL