If it Feels
Good...........
(Revisited)
by
Dick Prosapio © 2008
As soon as I ate the Ritz cracker with the "Old
English" cheese spread on it I knew I was doomed.
With my, relatively, high cholesterol I should be
watching the fat content of everything. My VA doc has said that
since the "good" stuff is better than the "bad" stuff and my
triglycerides are really good, and I check out in every other way,
even the high C rating isn't really that bad....so..why not? One
rationalization being as good as any other.
Besides, one bite of Ritz coupled with good, sharp
cheddar and I'm a goner, right back at the first place we lived that
I remember really well, 66th and Marshfield on the south side of
Chicago. Every now and then, to blow off steam I'm sure, all the
musicians my father played with would come over to our apartment and
have a party. These would turn into jam sessions, though I didn't
know what a "jam session" was at the time, featuring accordion,
guitar, base, piano, and vocals. No, this wasn't some polka band,
when these guys, and the female singer, sometimes my mother, got
together, they sounded like the Benny Goodman Quartet. I didn't know
just how "hip" they really were until years later when I heard some
of their recordings.
Ah, but what has that got to do with Ritz and Old
English? Well, I was usually banished to my room as these
festivities pressed on to the wee hours, I was supposed to go to
school the next day, so I missed all the grown-up snacks. But the
next morning, while all were still asleep, I'd steal out into the
living room and raid the decimated snack trays scattered about the
living room. My favorite stuff, actually the only stuff I was
interested in, were the Ritz crackers smeared with cheddar cheese
spread and the tall glasses with about an inch left of almost
completely flat ginger ale, without the remains of the booze.
I suppose this was my way of participating in the
party after all, but the real treasures were the cracker and ginger
ale leftovers. There might even be "gold" available. I'd check out
the refrigerator and maybe, just maybe, I'd find some boxed
peppermint patties stuck away in there. I have never been able to
find these again but they were incredible, and if I wasn't prudent I
could eat the whole box. Which would not have been a good thing for
my P.R. in the family.
There are some things that are just as good now as
they once were, Ritz and Old English being one example...though I
haven't had any flat ginger ale lately. Walking in fresh, deep snow
on a really cold day and hearing that squeaky crunch beneath my
boots....that's nice. Our dog's unrestrained joy over the
possibility of a ride in the truck or about taking a walk in that
same snow is wonderful to see.
Hearing my kids say; "Love ya dad!" as they go on
their way, ah, that's always a good feeling. (Both the
going-on-their-way and the warm goodbye.)
Seeing a really good, heart-felt movie still holds
the power to effect. We just watched "Contact" again for the second
time since it was made. Jody Foster was incredible in it and the
story line superb.
Reading a good book, I mean a really good book,
one you can't put down, that never looses its flavor.
Speaking of "flavor", French Vanilla ice cream, we
like Breyers, that's a rich part of life...oh! and Starbucks "Java
Chocolate Chip", that's another one.
BBQ pork loin on old friend Charles Queen's ribs
just off the grill, or shishkabobed vegetables....good stuff too.
And Dublin cheese....ah, that's a good one. Comes from Ireland of
course, and is just sharp enough to grab, but not overwhelm the
pallet.
I love the sound of a Wright Whirlwind piston
engine passing overhead. Not many of those left, but once heard it's
never forgotten. If you haven't heard that sound from an old prop
plane I can tell you that it is so evocative that Harley Davidson
copied that sound and patented the exhaust system that replicated
it. It's one of the reasons Harley owners love Harleys. The patent
ran out recently and now a lot of motorcycle manufacturers are
replicating it on their bikes. They know a good thing when they hear
it.
And speaking of sound, there are two very
different sounds that will draw me closer, the wail of bagpipes,
which I'm sure speak to some recessive genes inside me, and the big
Dance Drum sounds at a pow-wow. Not many people know about the
latter, not many outside the southwest at least.
And sitting in the third row center in front of
the Basie band going full-out. Oh yeah!
I could go on for pages and pages I know, but I
want to end with this, for now; I just finished one of those really
good books I mentioned earlier. This one was "The Hummingbird's
Daughter" by Luis Alberto Urrea. I had to cry when I came to the
last page. Not because I regretted finishing it, but because it was
so beautiful. I've never experienced anything like that before when
finishing a book. It was, and will remain, a moment as full of
pleasure as anything I've noted in this small "appreciation" of what
".....Feels Good" to me.
I think I have to continue this narrative "list"
in the days to come so that I can call back into memory all of those
things that have and are making my life a wonder-full thing. God
knows, as I do, that I have spent much time, too much time, going
over the miseries and guilts embedded in it, it's about time to
speak of the gifts before the process of moving on blurs it all into
the common place.
And I didn't put Elizabeth in here 'cause that
will be a whole other page.
Really......ah; but I will add this, Elizabeth
dancing to "Nessun Dorme'"....that brings tears to my eyes and
wonder to my soul.
