My First 50 Years!

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been around for half a century now. What a journey it has been. Lots of ups and downs, with sudden turns and thrilling speeds. Much like a good long roller coaster.

I have experienced so much that it’s hard to fathom. I’ve witnessed everything from the creation of home computers to cell phones, Walkman cassette players to Discman CD players to mp3 players. Brick mobile phones to hand held mobile phones and pagers. Flip phones to smartphones. DOS systems to Windows. PC’s to Laptops to Tablets. VCR’s with BETA or VHS to DVD players to streaming movies and TV. From rabbit ears to cable TV to Satellite TV to IPTV. From encyclopedias, dictionaries and phonebooks to Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines. From Commodore 64 with floppy disk drives to Pentium processors to iPads and Tablets. From Pong, to Atari 2600 to Nintendo to Playstation, to XBOX to Wii. From Pac-Man and Asteroids to Mine Craft and Halo. From Bell Bottom Jeans to Yoga pants. From Sears and K-Mart to Walmart and Target to Amazon. From Taxis to Ubers. From Station Wagons to SUV’s to Electric Cars.

I remember prayers in school. As well as yardsticks on knuckles and paddles on behinds. I remember chalk erasers upside the head. I remember big hair and Aquanet spray.  I remember cabbage patch kids and pound puppies.  I remember AM radios and 8-tracks. I remember the America’s Top 40 Countdown every week. I remember the launch of MTV and ESPN. I remember Elvis Presley and John Wayne. I remember Michael Jackson and the moonwalk. I remember Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. I remember the Vietnam War and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. I remember Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. I remember the Miracle on Ice.

Six days after I was born, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I remember the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding on live television. I remember drive in movies with speakers on our windows. I remember Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader and Star Wars. I remember Muhammed Ali and Rocky Balboa. I remember Drakkar Noir and New Coke. I remember the first Chicken McNuggets and Air Jordans. I remember the eruption of Mt St Helens and the assassination of John Lennon. 

I remember a shark called Jaws and a sick kid named Ferris. I even remember the Rubik’s Cube.

I remember Lassie and Beaver and Little House on the Prarie. I remember Sunday nights with Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and the Wonderful World of Disney. I remember the Muppets, The Electric Company  and the Bloodhound Gang. I remember Knight Rider and Manimal, Different Strokes and Welcome Back Kotter. I even remember who shot JR.

I’ve seen a lot more in my 50 years. I have seen the world advance faster and faster as each year passes. I’ve seen my life change from boy to man, from single to married, from a couple to a family. I’ve watched my family grow a whole new generation. I’m grateful to know that I touched the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, and 2010’s. Such wonderful memories in each era. To have been born in the summer of ’69 is awesome. I grew up in a world of ever-changing technology and mind blowing inventions. I experienced the greatest eras in music, movies and television. I grew up before technology could interrupt or replace the magic of playing summer baseball, swimming in the city pools, gathering the neighborhood for football games, building forts and other “get out and do things” activities.

I’m thankful for my health. Grateful that I can still play basketball and hike and fish. Here’s to the next 50 years. I hope I’m able to live to see twice as many new things as I’ve already seen to date. With the love of my life by my side, and with my kids and grandkids too, I plan to watch it and live it to the fullest. Bring on decade #7!! 

The Tracks Of Life

When I was born, you sat under shade of a chôm chôm.

Fighting for our country, in the jungles of Vietnam.
You returned to the nation you love, and to the family you'd been missing.
Though I knew you not, you picked me up, and plastered me with kissing.

We moved around as you searched for work, managing the great Red Steer.
You let me choose my own drink, mixing Dr. Pepper with root beer.
In the mountains we spent much time. You taught me the fishing knot.
You showed to put upon the hook the grasshoppers I had caught.

You tightly held my banana seat as I learned to ride a bike.
You cheered at my achievement. I'd no longer need a trike.
You taught me competition, and how to throw a ball.
You encouraged me to always, get up if I should fall.

You showed me when mistakes are made, if some we do offend.
That even though it hurts, we must quickly make amends.
So many years have passed, into a man I now have grown.
Today I am found raising, a young boy of my own.

My journey has but only started, there is much that lies ahead.
Happiness and hardships, yet forward I will tread.
The pathway windily traverses, adventure it never lacks.
Sometimes our load is lightened, sometimes heavy on our backs.

I look forward to what may come, to the future how it lay.
For this father and his son, will together make their way.
Tracks of life behind us. Before us endless more.
The rails keep us moving, toward our heaven's shore.

By Horace R Hallenberger II