The King and Aging

If you're a die-hard Elvis fan, chances are you were glued to TCM yesterday for the Elvis movie marathon. I mentioned this to Ron, whose loyalties lie not with the Presley Elvis, but the Costello Elvis and only because he's married to Diana Krall, he said, "Yeah, it's the 30th anniversary of his death."

That stopped me dead in my tracks. Why? Because Elvis died a week before I went to college. And that was thirty years ago? It was a good thing I had on my Depends and that my Rascal scooter had its brakes firmly engaged. How can that be? Three decades have passed since I left home and ventured into the wide, wide world. Yes, I've been married 26 years and have an almost 25-year old daughter, but somehow that thirty year designation wigged me out. What have I done for the last thirty years? Had two kids, worked for some good people, worked for some bad people, learned how to cook a few decent meals, recorded a cd (totally true), loved an awesome man, learned to love and serve God in new and exciting ways . . . I guess that's time pretty well spent. Still . . . thirty years?

I remember exactly where I was when Elvis died. My family was on vacation in Branson (the pre-chaotic Branson). There was a movie marathon then as well. I'm sure I parked myself in front of the telly and watched them all. Such a sad, senseless end to a really remarkable career. I once worked with this lady who had this velvet lined box that opened up and had Elvis in the middle and it played one of his songs, maybe "Can't Help Falling In Love With You." Pretty, um, how can I put it? Tacky. She used to take off August 16th every year, dress entirely in black and go the bar and get blotto. Yikes.

Tonight Ron and I watched one of my all time favorite movies, "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou." If I've mentioned this before (which is a distinct possibility since I talk about George Cooney all the time) just get over it. George (wink, wink) is a riot and the writing is priceless. A wonderful movie for one-liners . . . "Damn, we're in a tight spot." "I'm a Dapper Dan man." "I seen 'em first." "We thought you was a toad." "Gopher, anyone?" I seriously could go on and on and on and on. But I won't. If you haven't seen it, do it. I keep telling myself I'm going to read Homer's "Odyssey," which is the basis of the movie, but I think I'll just keep watching "Brother" and call it good.