When you are young

Last Saturday I was in the local autoparts store to get a airconditioning hose made. This was right at closing time and there were very few customers in the store. I had been to several places trying to get a new hose end put on.

One of the shop/counter guys is a Studebaker collector and so I went to him. He is also the best guy at the store. He was making me a new hose and I was leaning against the counter waiting.

All the parts department people were heading out and someone made a comment about catching the "last train to Clarkesville."  Another parts guy speaks up and says he saw the Monkeys in 1965 and it was a pretty wild show. The younger guy at the counter didn't have much to say and wandered off. I went over and asked the guy what it was like to see the Monkeys back in the day. Were they serious? Kind of a joke like they seem to be today? 

Guy says it was a wild show and the Monkeys were actually really good. He said during Last Train to Clarksville they were pushing each other around on stage in a hospital gurney. Said they would send it from one side of the stage to the other with a big crash. People were wild, everyone was having a good time.

Said he also saw Jimi  Hendrix. Said that was an amazing show. Must have been really something to see Hendrix in person. Guy said that Hendrix did stuff with his guitar that it would take a computer to recreate. It was as they say, "an experience."

He noted that he almost saw Janis Joplin. Drove quite a distance, got tickets, then got too drunk at the part the night before. Missed the concert. I'm not much of a Joplin fan but Hendrix would have been amazing and the Monkeys would have been interesting.

So my question/comment is:

You are young and hip and living life to the fullest and all that stuff. 

Does anyone stop and think, "I wonder if I could grow up to be a counterman at the McMinnville autoparts store."

In my case I did wonder if I would end up being a farmer. But then I was never tragically hip...

Note: I am not putting down folks who work the counter at the auto store. My friend with the Studebakers is really good and it seems to be the perfect job for him. Good access to parts, lots of people with the same interests-etc.

I'm just not picturing it as the glamour job for the younger set.

What you think about when you are young and where you end up when you are old are two different things.