Gray, Gray

Every once in a while I get a reminder of how many years have passed. Yesterday was one of those days.

I was having lunch in the cafeteria with some of the faculty, three nice people from the math department, and the conversation somehow turned to the first rock concert people had ever attended. And then the best rock concert they'd attended. They really got into it, naming groups and venues I'd never heard of.

They're considerate people, and all at once they noticed I had shared nothing and they all paused and looked my way. "I'm still waiting to attend my first rock concert," I told them. "The closest thing to it was one night back in about 1965, Joe and I and another couple went to the Academy of Music to hear the New Christy Minstrels." Two of them seemed dumbfounded, but Niall, godbless'im, piped up, "The New Christy Minstrels, eh? Did they sing 'Green Green'?" "You bet they sang 'Green Green,' I told him. "And they also sang 'Saturday Night," and 'We'll Sing in the Sunshine' and 'This Ol' Riverboat' and 'Today'" and then somebody else talked about some other group.

Lunch ended and we went back to our respective jobs. I spent the afternoon with the lyrics of "Today" running through my head. And they sounded even sweeter than they did that night 43 years ago.

Today while the blossom still clings to the vine,
I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine,
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
Ere I forget all the joys that are mine today.