Every morning I read the Columbus Dispatch on my iPad. My hometown newspaper holds a lot of nostalgia for me and I like to start my day here in California with a taste of home. When I was young I used to read the paper’s comic section at lunch usually with a nice bowl of Campbell’s Chicken soup. We all have pleasant memories of our childhood and my memory of reading comics brings back memories of a very peaceful time in my life when I didn’t really have any worries. Another memory is simply reading Garfield in our living room on the recliner next to the window on a warm summer’s day. I lived in a newer, middle-class maze like development called Golfview Woods, which as the name implies was next two two public golf courses. I have many fond memories of growing up in that neighborhood and even wrote a post about it.
My favorite comic was first Garfield followed later in my childhood by Calvin and Hobbes. One old acquaintance of mine who also grew up in the neighborhood – Brenden – will still razz me about my love of Garfield as my room had many plush animals and I even had a Garfield phone. Interesting story about the Garfield phones is that ruined ones will still wash up on the northern beaches of France as a container of them spilled into the sea.
Reading the paper this week I came across a comic strip – Sally Forth – that reminded me of my childhood and Golfview Woods. It evoked memories of beautiful summer nights walking the neighborhood with childhood friends and the agony when we realized it would end with school starting soon.
It is the first frame showing the houses in silhouette with a beautiful night sky above. I can picture myself walking down Camelback Drive with two elementary school friends talking about the upcoming school year and our futures while enjoying the warm summer night, seeing fireflies and without any care in the world.
I should mention another memory and the reason perhaps this specific street stands out. One night in one of those brightly lit windows in a silhouetted house we saw a women remove her top and bra right in front of the window! This was perhaps the first time I had ever seen boobs and being somewhere between the 6th and 8th grade is a memory that really stuck with me for obvious reasons.
At 46 years old reading comics don’t bring back the joy the used to but I do catch some things I didn’t as a kid such as ’70s references that I’ll look up or philosophical meanings that flew over my head, especially with Calvin and Hobbes. But I’ll read them anyway if I have time. I also enjoy doing the Jumble as that brings back another piece of nostalgia.
My senior year of high school I had a study hall as the second to last class of the day. We were supposed to study or do homework but high school was pretty easy for me and I didn’t feel like studying or doing homework. So I got up to a bit of mischief and was always getting scolded by the study hall monitor Ms. Hebert. When I flew a paper airplane across study hall that was the last draw and she made me come sit directly in front of her for the rest of the quarter. She would always do the Jumble and I started to do it with her. We formed a bond and eventually she allowed me to talk a bit even though silence was supposed to be strictly maintained in study hall. Eventually another senior – Richard Grubb – got into trouble and he joined us at that head table. Before long a few other seniors had joined as well and it ended up being much more enjoyable than just sitting alone in silence as we were allowed to chat. I’ll always remember Ms. Hebert for this and creating good memories. She even gave me a kiss on my cheek at our graduation ceremony. I wish I could find her on Facebook to share this memory and wonder if she remembers our bond created by study hall and the Jumble.
For the sake of nostalgia I’ll still do the Jumble to this day and it has taken precedence over the comics.
After noticing the Sally Forth comic I decided to read one of my old Garfield comics, the only one I still have, to see if it would spark any further nostalgia and it did.
I love sunsets and sunrises and came across this frame in my book “Garfield Treasury.” I remember this scene vividly and think it may have contributed to my love of sunrises and sunsets. Many of my drawings as a kid depict this type of scene as it was very easy to draw and I’ve never been a good artist. My oldest son is a fantastic artist and after noticing his talent got him a tablet specifically for art which he has finally started using. He has gotten even better and his art makes a mockery of mine.
There was one other scene like this in the book.
When we are young joy comes so spontaneously which doesn’t happen anymore at 46. Looking at these comics I can get a flicker of that old feeling. The joy could persist whereas now I find I have to really work at it. Things that make me feel good now are strenuous exercise, meditation, mindfulness and the occasional bottle of wine. When drinking the bottle of wine I like to sit on the porch watching a sunset and listening to music, usually classical or something from the past such as 70s or 80s music to bring back memories. Like meditation the intoxication puts me in a certain frame of mind where thoughts and ideas occur to me that do not normally. However, I drink rarely now because at 46 I’m not hungover the next day but feel very lethargic and I hate that feeling. It saps the energy I need to accomplish things which is another activity that makes me happy.
Well, the time is now 9:54 and I need to engage in another activity which I don’t enjoy the actual doing of it but love the feeling afterwards which is karate. So I’m off to our class and looking forward to feeling great for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately – at 46 – if I sit down after class I will fall asleep wasting valuable weekend time.
