Forty isn't old. If you're a tree. (Ode to Dave Cloutier)

To set the record straight, I'm over 40 years old. Well over. In another year I'll be actually be closer to 60 than I'll be to 40.



Jesus Christ.

How they hell did that happen?
(I just had to run the math in my head to prove it to myself. Unfortunately I was right).

I've got a friend that turns forty. Tomorrow. He didn't want a party.
Obviously he is growing wise in his old age.



I'm not sure if this post is intended to make him feel old...or me feel young.

We'll see.

If it makes me feel young than I should have written it a long time ago, because I haven't felt young in a long time.

Well, not since that night at the Saco River Grange Hall a month ago when I went to see the fiddle festival.
That was actually quite a good time....one of the funnest nights I've had in a long time...but if it wasn't for me, my lovely, slightly younger wife, and 10 year old daughter, the average age of the attendees would have been somewhere between 60 and 80. We lowered it to about 55.



(this is the Saco River Grange Hall)

So back to my forty year old friend.

This was the number one song when you were born.

(Unfortunately my friend just wore that same bright yellow shirt and light blue overalls that the guitarist in the video is wearing to a party last night. He's does a lot of things well, but dressing himself is not one of them).

This one makes me feel young. No way this song is forty years old. I still remember listening to it on my transistor radio and waiting feverishly for it to be played so that I could hit record on the cassette player that I had positioned the microphone in front of the radio speakers oh so carefully.

 

Wait. Now those pictures make me feel old.
Come to think of it, so did the description of how we had to "tape" songs back in the day.

All in the Family was the number television in show when this young buck was born


I remember this show as a kid. (for the record I was 10 years old). That doesn't seem that long ago when I was watching this show....except for the fact that Carrol O'Connor (Archie Bunker) was the same age I am now when he was playing this role in 1974.

That makes me feel old.
As a matter of fact I was probably more interested in the Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show on Saturday mornings than I was in All in the Family.


I'm sure that reference is completely lost on that forty year old.
Which makes me feel old.

Maybe he'll google it (if that's what kid's do nowadays to learn about ancient history).

The first car I ever owned (which I bought in 1980) was built in 1974.



That's right. The Ford Maverick.

I can feel the jealously. From all of you.
I'll bet my friend has held up better than any 1974 Maverick has. (Actually I've seen him in shorts. Maybe I'll retract that previous statement).

1974 was when Hank Aaron set the all time home run record, beating Babe Ruth's prior record of 714. He still owns the record , if you ask me.

I remember watching it at Eastern Slopes Campground in New Hampshire...probably on a black and white television with rabbit ears. In a pop up trailer.
  

Those were the days.

Not sure if that makes me feel old or young. That one's a draw.

Here's the decider.

We both stayed up late watching a playoff hockey game the other night.
Probably in bed close to midnight.
He got up at 3:30AM and worked a full day...mowed his lawn...and his next door neighbor's.
I saw him at a basketball game that night. He stood for the whole thing.

Me?

I slept in. Left work early.
...and fell asleep in the stands despite it being a double overtime thriller that both of our youngest daughters were playing in. If it wasn't for the crowd going wild when a girl from the other team hit a no look 60 foot three pointer with .2 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, I would have slept through both overtimes as well.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. I probably would have only slept through one of the overtimes.

Ok.
So I'd say the result of this had to make me feel older, not him.

...and just so you know, the fact that he built your own basketball court...outdoor fireplace...a table built from a full size redwood...re did all the wood work in his house...gives foot rubs to his entire family...makes breakfast every weekend...invented the internet..discovered gravity...and turned water into wine...

I'm not jealous.

As long as I remember the door knob coming off in my hand the last time I walked into your house (and the fact that you didn't install it is a moot point)...

Happy birthday Dave Cloutier.

You're a hell of a guy and a true friend.

kitty kitty kitty

you bastard