Tape title stories

 We don't piece here     We used to berate ourselves and say we were pussy suburban privileged white kids but that was only partially true. It certainly is a better description of my work history than Greg's who sometimes joined the working men in parts yard or factory. The problem with many of us in the Boomer generation was we wanted to be hippies because that was where the fun and chicks were but we also wantd to have some money to pay for fun and take those hippy chicks out for beer and pizza pie. In my case I lasted exactly one day in the glass bottle factory of Owens-Illinois over on Fruitland in Vernon. It was a BC involved hire and I assumed I would be in an office taking orders over the phone but instead I reported at 6;30 am to the factory where I moved cases of empty milk bottles off a box car and onto a conveyor belt at a speed that kept you sweating. The noise was absolutely deafening as the embossing machine was just feet away and each bottle stamped caused...

  One True Friend                         when the ocean was monochrome “If you have two friends in your lifetime, you're lucky. If you have one good friend, you're more than lucky.” ―  S.E. Hinton      Closing in on a terrible anniversary now and I am still floundering in the void. What makes these days even more dismal is another memory, ten years before when my  spirit was scuttled and sunk to the bottom of a very deep ocean. After ten years I still cannot understand how my mind became so utterly engulfed in anxiety, then depression that became a six month journey through mental health hell. It began with a diagnosis of sleep apnea, then a phobia about CPAP machines, then a complete meltdown of emotional fragility where I could not eat solid food or stand to be alone in my own home. Every day was a torture without anything I could hang onto in the maelstrom that were my thoughts. I lost fifty po...

  "Teach your children well" Teach your children well Their father's hell did slowly go by Feed them on your dreams The one they pick's the one you'll know by Don't you ever ask them why If they told you, you would cry So just look at them and sigh And kno w they love you" "Teach Your Children"- Crosby, Still and Nash      First it was a phone call on this day, then a text message asking Greg if his children had honored him on this sacred Father's day? His answer ranged from hell no! to "I hope not" that reflected his belief  that the day was a phony, made-up sham to justify florists selling lots of arrangements for Mother's Day which he also ignored and disparaged. I know he loved his red-headed offspring and enjoyed spending time with them more than any necktie or wicked slippers could demonstrate. Poor Lissy endured the rigors of childbirth twice and never got as much as a molasses chip for her motherhood, except for the oth...

  but not of them      The value of a liberal education was evident in our dear friend who made the most unlikely subjects illuminated by describing them in terms drawn from great literature. This episode involved sitting in the bleachers at Dodger stadium, the left-field bleachers where we sat for a buck and a half in the resurgent 1974 season. After being in the doldrums for too many Summers the team had acquired Jimmy Wynn "The Toy Cannon" and a jerk wih a screwball named Mike Marshall who pitched in an unheard ot 106 games. We also had two strong starting pitchers in Don "Sonny Boy" Sutton and Andy Messerschmidt along with the new star of Steve "another asshole" Garvey who knocked in runs. It was a time of dominance by the Cinncinnatti Reds Big Red Machine but this year we overachieved and won 102 games and the National League pennant. So, the point is that going out to the stadium was fun again and we went to quite a few games, sitting in left field t...

 the Summer of 42      While Greg had a fine career as an Architect and worked his entire life without any bum periods I feel he may have missed his true calling. The man had an uncanny ability to recall and recite lines of dialogue from stage, film and TV scenes that strummed his heart-strings. I mean he could mesmerize our group when he was moved to repeat the  introduction to "the Fall of the House of Usher," or scenes from "Double Solitaire" with a deep emotional expression. I could ask him to answer a line from the underrated film adaptation of Moby Dick by saying "Was it not Moby Dick that took off your leg?" His face would redden like he was expressing angst and he would moan "Aye...twas Moby Dick!" We have heard before about his tavern recitation that caused his cousin Evan to be booted from the Sunshine Meat, Fish and liquor Company and suffer a lifetime ban but these performances were rare. Dutch courage might help but his monologues w...

 An Early Hibernian Obsession                                       the McCabe daughters with Mom Nora      Growing up hetero was not always easy despite an entire society set up to make the journey one of lollipops and rainbows. Most of us started to notice girls around 5th grade and by 6th grade we were overmatched. I recall the Halloween scene at St. Helen's where the cutest girl in school dressed as a princess, wore lipstick and struck about a dozen boys smitten to the levels where we would do anything just to stare into her blue eyes. It will be another story about my obsession and failed attempt to win the heart of Jean Lowe but this blog is about Greg and he suffered the same malady that the rest of us young fellers were gripped by throughout our tween years. Greg matured earlier than I did but unfortunately was schooled by very poor role models who feared the rejec...