Doing the things you enjoyed in your youth can wipe away the years
There’s a long-running soap opera that opens with the words “Like sands through the hourglass…so are the Days of Our Lives.” I’ve always been impressed with that image and how the words ring true. In 1991, Queen released a song called “These Are The Days Of Our Lives.” It opens with these words:
Sometimes I get to feelin’ I was back in the old days, long ago
When we were kids, when we were young
Things seemed so perfect, you know?
The days were endless, we were crazy, we were young
The sun was always shinin’ we just lived for fun
Sometimes it seems like lately, I just don’t know
The rest of my life’s been just a show
I think that many people share this feeling. The world was so fine when we were young. Now, maybe not so much. But I have found that by doing the things we enjoyed as kids, we can revisit some of that youthful joy.
One of those things for me is playing music. I played guitar in a garage band back in 1966-67. We were five teenagers who played at middle school dances. We covered the hit songs of the day like “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones, “Eight Days a Week” by the Beatles, and “Last Train to Clarksville” by the Monkees. It was a joy just to play music with my friends and I personally didn’t care if we ever got paid. Unfortunately, my bandmates felt otherwise, and that ultimately led to the demise of the group.
But that didn’t end my love of playing music. In high school, I took up the trumpet and played in the school orchestra. After that, I was pretty much on my own. My guitar followed me as I went away to college, and then from zip code to zip code making money at things less enjoyable than playing music. But no matter how soul-destroying my day job, I always could come home to my guitar. And I found that even playing by myself was enjoyable. It brought back happy memories of playing with my friends. And learning new songs kept the creative part of my brain satisfied.
When I retired, I bought a banjo and a ukulele to expand my string instrument repertoire. I played for my grandchildren and they enjoyed joining me -- my granddaughter on electric guitar, and my grandson on ukulele. Playing with others is always more fun.
Recently, I discovered that Montclair has a very active amateur musician scene. There are open mike nights at Leone’s every Thursday, at the Montclair Brewery every other Wednesday, and at the Trend Coffee House on the first Tuesday of the month. No matter whether you come to play or just listen, these nights are a lot of fun.
As the sand in the bottom of the hourglass accumulates to impressive heights, try doing whatever you enjoyed years ago. You may find it’s the next best thing to the fountain of youth.
