Fifty-Eight

This is the “Speech” I had written for the show last Saturday night.   Though I only used a small portion of it during an intro for the song “Time won’t let me,” the entire text is within.  I hope you enjoy or at least consider it…  in its totality. 

(Saturday, June 17 2017)   I woke up this morning and realized that this would be the very last day I would ever be 57 years old.  Tomorrow morning, approximately 4:44 am would be 58 years a human on this earth.  You could certainly say that today I’m on the edge of 58. 

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the song “the edge of 17,” by Stevie Nicks.  Well, the gulf between the edge of 17 and 58 is a rather large one.  So many things have changed from then until now.  So many technology advances… think about it. 

There was no internet, no cell phones, no “Amber alerts,” no Amazon… not even Super Walmart’s.  No cable television…  no Netflix, no global warming, not even unleaded gas.  There was only a few fast food places…   In Reedsburg, there was “Dairy King” and “A&W”…  The Reedsburg Café and very greasy beer battered fish and chocolate shakes at the Reedsburg Bowling Lanes. 

The thing is, when I was on the edge of 17, I was playing in LaValle, Wisconsin in a rock n’ roll band with a guitar in my hand.  Now, on the edge of 58, I’m playing in LaValle, Wisconsin in a rock n’ roll band with a guitar in my hand.  This leads me to only one conclusion…

I am a time-traveler from another era….   

This I am certain of.  This is the only logical explanation…. 

It’s hard for me to believe that time as slipped away so quickly.  I’ve heard it goes like this, but I always sort of didn’t believe it.  The days zoom by… weeks, months and then years.  Before you know it, you’re considering where to put your “plot” and companies are gleefully sending you “life insurance policies” to make sure your loved ones are not burdened by your funeral expenses… 

Excuse me?  Fuck you! 

I’m not done living yet.  I still have my dreams, thank you very much!

I’m still hoping that maybe.. just maybe… someone might take notice of the guy from Wisconsin that wrote that very heartfelt novel… or maybe spun that thought-provoking song.  I have so many great ideas still dancing in my head… 

Even more than that, I’m hoping someone will find the will to love such a lost soul as myself… and maybe spend some of the time we might still have together.  I’m sure so ready for that. 

58.  Not a curse, but perhaps a hasten…