SUNSHINE BOYS

                                                         

We have long had this group of old men and sometimes even a couple of ladies that would get together for coffee in the mornings in town. I have written about them before under the label of ‘Sunshine boys.”  But Illness, death and moving away have thinned the ranks and now there are fewer left.  Oh, every fall, we always lost a few snowbirds for the winter but even then we seemed to have a quorum and guess what? I’m now a snowbird too. I’m not talking about a quorum in a legal sense but rather enough for us to have a meaningful conversation.

Sometimes groups like this exist for a while and then disappear because the reasons for meeting had a particular topic in mind. For instance a group that once worked together or alumnus. But this group is unique, never having a definite purpose or any ties that went beyond being old, living around Crosslake and just wanting to socialize. For many of us it is just a way to break up the day and share some old jokes and maybe a few experiences. Complain about the state of world affairs and that awful younger generation, all something old men seem to be drawn to.

There were a couple of topics that weren’t officially banned but topics we did stay clear of. Human nature and the experience of a lifetime of living, told most of us they could be sensitive and controversial. After all respect for each other had to come first. So religion and politics remained on the back burner. When the group first started getting together, or at least when I first started getting together with them, I was one of the younger ones. That has changed somewhat. I haven’t got any younger and they’re simply aren’t many younger ones and that’s the reason for this essay. 

When I was a young man I often thought that if I were to be happy in life maybe a log cabin on a mountainside far from the madding crowd would be my cup of tea. There would be no one to criticize me or no one to order me around. No one to fear or steal my stuff. No one, to be compared too. I would be my own boss. What I didn’t realize at the time, coming from a large family, was how lonely that kind of life can be and what were the ramifications of having no one to love. Ironically my Grandson who is just 21 once said the same thing to me. He’s getting married next summer and I’m betting he’s given up on that idea, just like I did.

But back to the sunshine boys and what has happened.  I’ve wracked my brain for some sort of reasoning for the declining ranks. Is having friends like that no longer cool anymore? Has the dynamics of people sharing their lives like that changed that much? Or are we way to busy for that sort of thing or is the reasoning-- what’s in it for me? Maybe we were all just in another time and place back then, where we just clicked. Then maybe it’s just me and I’m reading way too much into it—or perhaps writing too much into it, I don’t know. Anyway, years ago Bob Hope had a theme song called “Thanks for the Memories.” To Morrie, Rusty, Dick, Norm, and now Gordy, who have gone on to that big booth in the sky with the never-ending coffee cup, I too say, “Thanks for the memories.” To Lee we all say, “get well our friend. “To all of the others and especially you Fergie-- I’ll see you in the spring.