Lifetime Memories

Sunrise/sunset, sunrise/sunset, flow the lyrics from that musical in which a bearded musician has the rather precarious habit of fiddling around on roof tops. As of ’06 I have witnessed 75 years of these heavenly ups and downs of our central lighting and heating system.
Had my beloved wife Shirley been alive we would have celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. It is not enough for me to say I loved her. No, I was nuts about her. The happiest day of my life was at our wedding - not that I married her but that she married me.
I have two sassy grandchildren whom I love beyond sanity and as incumbent upon me as their grandpa I spoil them rotten: Gina-Gail Fay and Spencer Jay, my extended DNA.
I have been retired since 1995 after having toting that barge and lifting that bale for 64 years. I started out my illustrious career at age 10 as a shoe shine boy, charging the outrageous price of 10 cents a shine. At age 13 I was a bike messenger for Western Union, delivering telegrams. Old timers - explain that to the youngsters. And then a bus boy for Horn & Hardart. Old Timers, again please.
I served two years in the military but without any particular distinction. I guess that’s why my Honorable Discharge is the only one that is inscribed - “AND STAY OUT.”
At my senior stage of life I look back at my lost and wasted youth and ask myself would I do it again. Hell yeah. Ah, those were the days, but for me now, these are the days where I spend my time going to the bank to get free calendars. I now belong to the fraternity of Old Geezers whose motto is, “where the hell are my glasses.”
In closing, I leave you with those stirring and immortal words by the late pudgy comedian, Lou Costello, which united our country as never before: “Heeeey Abbott.” Go figure!
Hyman Auslander
Flushing