Back When...

I was sitting outside tonight, keeping an eye on the grill, as hot dogs and italian sausage popped and sizzled above the flames. I was listening to my 70's playlist on my iPhone, and I was thinking about a simpler time. At least a simpler time for me. I hear these songs and I can remember and see certain memories. As if I was transported back.

A time that my dad was still with us, and I would be in my room at home, laying on the bottom bunk, listening to the AM radio. That was my iPod. No fancy boombox then. My buddy lived next door, so I had easy access to a playmate. I'd come home from school, go out and play until dinner, and then after helping clean up, it was homework and then just hanging out in my room. Drawing, writing, or even just staring at posters on my walls (Farrah Fawcett in the red swimsuit was my fave) and just listening to music. This was the era of the K-Tel compilation albums. To be played on a record player. Today it's "Now That's (fill-in-the-blank)"

What was there to worry about? Aside from Nuclear War, which still worries me today, what really was there? My dad would tell me that there was nothing I could do, and neither country wanted to kill themselves, so worrying solved nothing. But as an adult, there are so many things to worry about. Marriage, kids, money, mortgages, car payments, insurance, retirement, taxes, death, etc.

Kids today don't see that. They want to be older before they need to. Back then, there were no worries about these things. Our parents took care of them. They had the worries. Like we do now. As a kids, there was no heartbreak gut punch. Love was a distant light in the future. We rode bikes. We didn't sit and stare blankly at a computer screen or a video game console. Atari came along, but it didn't encompass all our time. I love to shoot zombies on my PS4. But when I have some downtime, and I'm not being dad or husband.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life. I'm married to a wonderful woman, have 3 great kids, and a nice house and a couple dogs. Being grown up has it's perks. There's things you can do as an adult. But it's nice to think back and revisit a time when things were simpler. At least as a kid. I hope my kids will take their time growing up and appreciate the opportunity to only worry about homework, going to school, the occasional chore, and the possible schoolmate worry from time to time. It does go by fast. Too fast it seems. So for now, I'll hit that 70's playlist, take a trip home and see my dad, and take a little break from adulting.