throwback

“The thing about Pepsi.”  Unlike all my previous posts which were spawned from extremely cerebral literature, this is launched from that disco Pepsi Cola commercial.  Growing up in the 80’s, I remember Pepsi being “the choice of a new generation.”  Michael Jackson did their crazy, expensive commercials.  And, despite that marketing blitz, my sisters and I were never allowed drink it.  Due to our mother’s adherence to strict healthy food rules, we rarely had any kind of soda – save 7-up for upset bellies.  Thus, I didn’t like the taste of cola all through my childhood.  This all changed in high school.  Funny how much my love affair with soda changed my life.  This notion returns me to dealing with my personalty’s addictive nature.  Chewing my fingernails, having to be the best-most-obsessed-with-whatever-I’m-into-at-the-moment-thing, falling in love, spending, eating, etc…these are the things that I have wrestled with over the years.  Throw soda and smokes into the mix, and wow, that is an intense battle zone.

There were times when I was free of all my addictions.  Spending time with my 18 month old niece and my thirty-something sister helped to remind me of this.

Tonight was a perfect Midwestern summer’s night.  The sun was out at 7:30 p.m. with birds still fluttering and chirping in the trees.  My sister was nestled into the sofa, exhausted from her mothering duties.  My niece was sitting in total quiet on the floor playing with crayons and a coloring book.  I was holding the coloring book for her.  The way the air smelled, all fresh following an afternoon of showers, the glint of the light reflecting from water droplets clinging to leaves, and the sounds of nature carrying on in the suburbs despite the giggles of neighborhood children running in the nearby yards and a lawn mower buzzing off in the distance, all combined to recreate a moment from my past.

Many, many years ago we were sometimes sent to bed before the sun had set because we had swim lessons early the next morning.  My sister and I shared a room back then.  We would snuggle under our Sesame Street sheets wearing the light-weight summertime p.j.’s, and experience an absolutely identical evening to tonight’s….save the 18 month old.  On nights like that, she and I would talk about getting married, having our own families, and how we couldn’t wait to have our own homes – with our own rooms.  We would plan to have picnics with all the family bringing food like a pot-luck.  We promised that one-day we would stay up late and go on our own vacations together.  The future held all kinds of possibilities and that gave us plenty of fodder to stay awake imagining.  It was great!

Funny how much of that has come to pass.  Funny how as much as we were in such a rush to get to this, now time moves so increasingly fast, we can’t do anything to slow it down.  So in such a simple moment as tonight, my senses threw me back to previous simple moments.  Those were times to remember for the freedom, the innocence, and the optimism.  Those throwbacks to happy, simple, dreamy summer nights!

I came home at 10:30 and updated my Twitter account, checked two email accounts, returned about five text messages on my cell phone, paid three bills online, tuned into “your weather on the 8s” on TWC, and set my iPod alarm clock for tomorrow morning.  Crap, technology has changed my summertime scenery.  I think I will challenge myself to once-again “unplug.”  This is a really hard challenge, but it must be tackled.  I must attempt a “throwback” to summer night’s free of cable tv, computers, cell phones, and air conditioning.  I need to re-experience sweating in my sheets, reading a fun book by flashlight, and falling asleep to my happy, wandering, positive thoughts.  Who needs more than that?

As I usually add some random thought on the end I will go on the record to claim that actor James Purefoy (spelling?) makes me happy.  Maybe it is his accent, or the crinkles on the corners of his eyes when he smiles, or his scruffiness, but there is something about him that I like.  I am excited he will be on NBC’s new show, but I doubt that he will impress me as much as he did with his role in HBO’s “Rome.”  He was awesome…as was Kevin McKidd (who is now on ABC).  I think I just really liked Rome.  Okay, enough on that.  Time to throw myself into some sleep.

~ by the10sdoc on June 12, 2009.