Pong........... memories........

If you've paid close attention here............... WHY?  JK, but TY.

My brain is, can be, skeery.

Atari conceived the idea of the game Pong.  It was, or is I guess, a simple black and white screen... two paddles (one on either end).. a little white 'ball' (was actually square shaped).  You, the player, controlled one'a the paddles, the machine the other... the object was to paddle the ball past the machine's paddle - thus, you scoring a point.

Dependent upon the speed, the game could go on, and on, and on, and on.  Kinda like kindergarten thru Senior year.....   First job thru 'take this job and shove it' I'm getting Social Security.

If memory serves...... (GOOD GOSH, look at that sentence...the older we get, the LESS memory serves, at least that's what I find.)...   If memory serves, the longer the game Pong went, THE FASTER THE DAYUM BALL WENT.... perhaps mimicking parts of Education (7th Grade?  WOO HOOO!  SIX, count 'em SIX different teachers!)....  16, "Hand over the keys Pops, I'll be home before Johnny Carson's monologue."

Or....... Work life, longevity.  As the Pong ball speeds up......DAMNIT, it's Monday ALREADY?

Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were

So, yes Babs, my brain this morning bounced, from Topic to Topic.

Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

A first thought was Quilts.... and Buffets....  The Fabric of people we come across in life.  So so many different, similar, opposite, eccentric, shy, egocentric, incredibly smart, ones ya don't notice, some, ya can't help but notice for whatever reason.   Reminded me of The Gold Buffet in North Kansas City, MO.

The Gold Buffet, much like the diversity life conjures up, had over 80 different foods for one to sample.  30,000 square feet, served a half a million people annually.  Holy guacamole that's a lotta people, food, chairs, tables.  Yes, and uh huh, even guacamole. In fact, they had a table just for snotnoses. You could sample before you decided to put it on your plate.  AND, if you completely cleaned your plate - ya got a Golden Ring.

Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me - Would we? Could we?

Bab's song is presumably about a relationship - and sure, most folks have that, one of them.  Ahm, and, some ain't content with just one 'plate', they go back and get another, and another, and so forth.  While the Buffet opened in 1961 and you could get "2 plates, as much as you want, $2", life finds going thru plates, ER, MATES, to be a tad more expensive.

Memories
May be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply to choose to forget

Then, I thought about Great Great Grandfathers everywhere.  They're gone. What is preserved, remembered?  Sure, some are up to snuff on Ancestry, but I think more commonly most of us don't even know the names of those in that generation.  VICTOR?  WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

So it is the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were

THAT, kinda.   Fer sure we have, and need, those serious moments - and those too are impactive, genuine.  Along the way though, fun happens, slips out. I, just like you, have my very, very special moments of fun, reflection.  BUT TOO, I have had friends come up and relate stories of things we did, places we went, what exactly happened (followed by their laughter) that I ain't got the foggiest recollection of.

So it is the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were

But, I'm so thankful of their recollection - just as I am my own recollection.

Memories as a kid.......  chasing a certain gal around the playground in 2nd grade.  Moving to Liberty, no one talking to me really for about two weeks (can't blame 'em, ugly redheaded freckefaced kid) then, Leroy Peters finally coming up to me offering me a piece pf blue gum.  I don't think (hope I don't anyways) I will ever forget that.

Junior Sheriff's badge, age 8.  We hadta do something for the Community, don't remember, but dadgum I remember being so proud.  The Plaza Theater, eons ago, first smooch. Of course I remember, and I remember her. (Time is funny though.. .we are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, she unfriended me! HA!)...  

I am lucky that the golf course I work at allows me to have a tournament annually.  It's a lot of good friends from that quilt of life..   school, work, little league, maybe even a bar stool buddy.  Ages vary from 20-something to 85.   A perty dayum nice buffet of folks.

VICTOR?  POINT?  PURPOSE TO THIS ALL?  GO AHEAD, PUT ON YOUR JOEL OLSTEEN OUTFIT AND ACT LIKE YOU DA DAYUM PREACHER.

HA, Not a chance. I guess the point is Great Great Grandfather.  No one remembers.  Can't dance, might as well have fun here eh?

So it is the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were

Love, Victurd