Classic Rant #547 (July 18, 2011): Old Friends

I had my second annual--and final--reunion barbecue for my old neighborhood this past Saturday.

What a difference from the previous year's gala. This year, the sun was shining all day, it was hot as could be in the 90s, and people actually had to go inside because it was too hot.

But I worked my tuckus off, as they say, as did my wife and my parents.

There were probably 40 some odd people there, about what we had last year. I thought we were going to have 60, but several people cancelled at the last minute.

Highlights included that one of my best friends from the old neighborhood showed up with his wife, and supplied about the nicest cake you'd ever want to see--and it tasted really good too.

Another highlight was that my next door neighbor from the old neighborhood showed up with her husband. I had not seen her for 43 years--and the funny thing is, she is still my next door neighbor, because she lives with her family in the next town over.

What a small world this is!

As I have said many times, Rochdale Village was an incredible place to grow up in the mid 1960s. It is the place where I went from a virtual baby, at seven years old, to a teenager, at 14 years old.

I saw things and did things that many people my age never experienced.

Yes, it was both good and bad, and bad and good, but the people made the place when we first moved in in July 1964, and they still do.

This is the last such barbecue I am going to hold because, quite frankly, the barbecues have served their purpose. I pass the baton to someone else, if anyone wants it.

Rochdale Village will celebrate its 50th birthday in late 2013. It opened just prior to the JFK assassination, although most original residents moved in between 1964 and 1965.

The place has already been celebrated in a book by noted historian Peter Eisenstadt, and it needs a proper party to celebrate this upcoming milestone.

Whether I and the people I had over at my house for this barbecue will participate is something we will have to ponder for the next few years, but I had fun as the host for these two barbecues.

Onward and upward!