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Democracy Chronicles

I made it to 78

by Julio César Guerrero - January 16, 2022

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I made it to 78I turned 78 this week and yes, I am still trying to find the meaning of life. Fortunately, reminiscing with my daughter a time when she took me to a gallery made me reflect that it is mostly the simple things that make life important.

The exhibit she took me to was a display of every piece that goes into a typewriter.

I remember at first glance I thought what a boring morning that would be, but as I walked along the halls of the gallery looking at every piece in display from small screws and springs to the more identifiable parts of the whole made me appreciate the time, care, and patience that took to design and craft an apparatus that helped convey humanity’s most important accomplishments and literary masterworks.

Thanks to my daughter whose memory helped me understand the importance of paying attention to the simple things in life. Sometimes they are better than measuring life by greater deeds.

I remember when people kissed their elder’s hands;

I remember Cri Cri;

I remember crying for a lost kitty and my grandmother going out in a rainy night looking for it;

I remember waking up to fresh percolated coffee aroma;

I remember the Nash, Gremlin, and Datsun;

I remember using an outhouse;

I remember wondering why cars’ headlights were on during blackouts;

I remember the first time I had a licuado;

I remember El Santo and Blue Demon;

I remember Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman in the Electric Company;

I remember wondering why the car radio played Spanish music after crossing the border from Mexico;

I remember when emergency vehicles were respected;

I remember getting my first bike…and being stolen the day after;

I remember when baseball was king;

I remember seeing a priest blessing a red Impala and wondering, WTF?

I remember when wearing white cotton socks was the coolest thing EVER;

I remember using Crew cut Vaseline;

I remember Gene Vincent;

I remember feeling guilty after having an erection in mass and didn’t know why;

I remember my first tie and hating it (wide, dark brown with large white spots);

I remember when there was trust on the News;

I remember being surprised the first time I saw two types of cereal in one pantry;

I remember when I used to eat three eggs, two pork chops, tortillas and beer before going to bed and never gained an ounce;

I remember when SNL was funny;

I remember when I had social skills and I remember when I lost them;

I remember when I could have coffee, ice cream, carnitas, salsa without digestion pains;

I remember differentiating between BRACERO the coal-tin heater and BRACERO the migrant worker;

I remember when I thought I knew what love was…and then my children came along.

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Filed Under: DC Authors

About Julio César Guerrero

Julio César Guerrero earned a Master’s degree in both social work and telecommunications at the University of Michigan. He spent many years teaching in the Michigan University system, where he developed ample experience in student services, classroom teaching, community organization and development, social and human services, nonprofit and human services administration, community and media relations, diversity training, outreach, and recruitment.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve Schneider says

    January 17, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    Happy birthday, Julio.

    Reply

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