Getting Older

Oh man! In just a few days I turn 49. Wow, I can't believe it. Time certainly flies. One thing is for certain - I find as I get older, I miss my days of growing up in and living in the Bronx. I only live about 10 minutes from the GW bridge in New Jersey. In January of this year I went back to my old neighborhood after 33 years. Sure, I drove through it a few times in the past, but this time I wanted to get out of my car and walk around Creston Ave and in St. James Park at 192nd street, Fordham road, the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge. I needed to spend some time in my neighborhood. Not my "old" neighborhood, my neighborhood where I grew up from aged 1 to 16. A time where all my memories of the best times of my life are stored away in my head. It was winter so there was a bit of a chill in the air. But I didn't mind, I was back on my old turf. I had my Spalding ball with me and showed my wife how we played our off-the-point baseball type game. A few people walked by looking at me oddly as I explained the rules of the game to her. The street was the infield. Grounders and line drives came off the point in the infield and an error would be a base hit. A double was hitting the parked car's hood or roof beyond the infield. Triple? That's when the Spalding flys over and bounces off the sidewalk on the other side of the street. And a homer is when you hit the building across the street. Then I explained scully and Johnny-on-the-Pony. She asked "did anyone ever get hurt playing Johnny-on-the-Pony?". I answered "of course, this is the Bronx!". Yep, those were the days. I have a friend out here in Jersey who also grew up in the Bronx. When we go down to our American Legion to have a cold one, we get excited when we talk about the Bronx and the games we played. Our fellow Legionnaires look at us and ask "what the hell are you guys talking about?". After we turn to each other and belt out a laugh, we proudly explain our youth years in the Bronx and the games we played. They answer with they played Little League Baseball as they were growing up in New Jersey. Hey, nothing wrong with that, we played baseball too, but in a different way. As I left the Bronx after spending several hours there, I realized that no, it's no longer my neighborhood anymore. It's now my neighborhood from the past. My neighborhood where memories of friends, fun and laughter filled my life. Memories of the best times of my life. Maybe soon I'll take another trip back into the neighborhood to bring those memories back to life. I'm looking forward to it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year to all you Bronxites out there.