Comes a Time...this old world keeps spinnin' round

I had to get my passport renewed and part of the process was unearthing my birth certificate. I must admit that wasn't so bad. After all, my age has ceased to annoy me (just the side effects of it), and there would just be the basic information on it - date, time, place, etc. What I was not prepared for was the sad lump in my throat and melancholy feeling that came over me when I read my parents ages. My mom was 19. My dad 24. My mom was just a girl. My dad, a young Korean War vet. Pictures of them from that time show a shiny blond girl and a handsome dark haired husband. The future was ahead of them and I was but the second of 6 more to come. I was the second in a line of 5 girls and 3 boys. I was the second in a family of 3 meals a day, endless loads of clothes, St. Marys uniforms and Easter Sunday dress shoes. I was the second in line for a "if no one admits it, you all get spanked.." spanking, second in line when the roll was called as we loaded in to the car. And so, without warning, my parents found a way in to my heart that day, because their ages were on a piece of paper they had signed so long ago. My mom is 77 now. My dad 82.

My son Levi turned 30 yesterday. My daughter Erinn will be 32 in two weeks. I sometimes still think of them probably in the same way my parents think of me. Aren't you still 5, 10, maybe 15? And why didn't you tell me that you were no longer 17 ? Did you go to bed one night, small and cozy and 3, and wake up long, lanky and 22? Seems like they were always Pozo kids, even though we migrated from Avila. Levi sleeping in a cubby under the bar during Saturday night dances. (!?) I know. Poor kid. And Erinn setting up her arm wrestling challenge with her brother bringing over unsuspecting boys her age.... "I can beat a girl.." they would say. And promptly run away defeated, by a girl. For the most part, my kids were raised at Pozo Saloon. One 4th of July, they hand crushed ice and sold snow cones, another time 10 year old Levi used a push mower on the field before the Whisky Games. They helped wash bar towels, shop at Smart and Final and sweep the floors. They missed weekends for family get togethers and had birthday parties at the Saloon. It has been a family affair and 26 years of it. And this old world does keep spinnin' round. Words from a Neil Young song. As I was writing this, Chick Tuesday was singing it on the back deck, this past beautiful Sunday. The music and more...

"Comes A Time"

Comes a time when you're driftin'

Comes a time when you settle down

Comes a light feelin's liftin' Lift that babyright up off the ground

Oh, this old world keeps spinning round

It's a wonder tall trees ain't layin' down

There comes a time.

You and I we were captured

We took our souls and we flew away

We were right we were giving

That's how we kept what we gave away.

Oh, this old world keeps spinning round

It's a wonder tall trees ain't layin' down

There comes a time.