These are the Good Old Days

As a middle-aged Boomer, every now and then I get a hankering for something from "the good old days," a piece of nostalia from my youth. This craving is no doubt fed by watching such programs as "American Pickers" where every week I see something that reminds me of my long ago!

Like the memory of my first car, a 1964 VW Beetle, the first year the crank sunroof was available. The car was cheap, great on gas mileage for the time, easy for a sixteen year old to repair, and greatly extended my nomadic range... not to mention my date-ability. So the hunt was on and I anticipated some sort of nostalgic epiphany as my middle-aged self connected with my youthful self.

I followed up several leads, only to find junk at the end of the rainbow. All it takes is a couple of minutes to spot a cracked head, twisted frame, or some other malady that the seller is trying to pass on to an unsuspecting buyer. But finally I found a 1968 model in cherry condition with no major issues (you will always have some issue with a used vehicle). So my wife and I jumped in for a test run, drove up and down a few streets, accelerated, stopped, shifted gears, and the car continued to prove road-worthy. Finally we returned to the home of the seller, I thanked her for her time and we got in our car and drove away.

My wife was quite puzzled; "You said it was great?" "Yep," I responded. "It was great ... for a thirty-five year old car. But what a piece of crap to drive!" My nostalgia for youth had been superceded by my appreciation for 21st century technological improvements such as EFI, disc brakes, and power steering. Luckily I got that "Bug" out of my system BEFORE I bought it.

But it bit again a few months ago when I decided I needed something better than my KLR for commuting daily. Having learned at least a little bit from the Great VW Hunt, this time I decided to upgrade my nostalgia a bit and looked at motorcycles that had a retro look but kitted with modern technology. I focused on the Brit bikes that were the "must-have" of my youth, such as the modern Bonneville and the updated Royal Enfield. But even updated they were puny; when I twist the wrist, I like to go and when I squeeze the brakes I like to stop. I had become spoiled by all that modern tech has to offer and so the brain overrode nostalgia once again and I ended up with a Triumph Tiger 800, a relatively new model which is perfect for me.

All of this got me to thinking about nostalgia and about how often I hear "The times were so much simpler years ago; those were the good old days." No, the times were not simpler, YOU were simpler. In childhood and youth I got up, ate breakfast, went to school, played with my friends, ate lunch and dinner, watched some TV, went to bed and did little more than anticipate the next day. I was the simple one: my needs, wants, hopes and desires were focused in the moment and with the task at hand, which is actually very Zen like.


As I was riding to work on Christmas morning, I felt that way again. It was a lovely dry morning, the Christmas Eve services had been wonderful, my kids and grandkids are doing well, the roads were clear, and I felt that wonderful sense of simplicity wash over me. That is when it hit me. What made the good old days ... well, the good old days, were not things, but me. If I had different possessions back in the day, like if my first car had been a Corvair instead of a VW, then that is the car I probably would have been seeking. And if it was me that provided that wonderful sense of simplicity back then, it could be recovered, since it is not dependent upon a possession but an attitude. Simplicity is a state of mind, not a possession.


So maybe the lesson here is that THESE are the good old days.