Was it that long ago? Not really. Not really?

Today I walked by an office that was quite creatively decorated. It was the occupant’s 40th birthday, and the theme was 1981ish. I took a look and had to laugh. I graduated high school in 1981. I joined the Air Force in 1981. It was a banner year. But was it really that long ago?

Forty years ago today I was living out the end of my last “summer of freedom.” I’d graduated earlier in the year and was one month away from leaving for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. I wasn’t going to ruin it by going out and getting a job or anything. I had a job — for the next four years. After that, I could decide what to do.

We had a great fireworks show that year on the 4th of July. That was one of the highlights of the summer. The father of my younger brother’s best friend (and my friend too) Gary had the permit for the city, and for the last few of my high school years, we were the ones who did most of the work. It was a blast — especially when the 100-shell finale Gary’s dad had designed and built all went up in pretty much one shot. Oops. But it was also pretty epic. We kind of got a reputation for a good show for stuff like that.

I don’t remember much else from that year (up to the day I joined the Air Force) that I can share. It’s not that I was up to no good. It’s just that memories of summers of freedom lived by young boys that had just graduated high school with nothing to do for the next four months hold a magic that can only be dreamed about anymore. I’ll just leave it at that.

Sometimes it feels quite close, but then today I considered this — 40 years before the 20th of August 1981 the Japanese had not yet bombed Pearl Harbor. So much had changed in those 40 years, and so much has changed in the next 40. In keeping with what’s occupying a bit of my mind these days (an upcoming trip), I remember when we used to be able to walk a person to the gate and see them off in the airport. I remember (in keeping with my service in the Air Force) when the Soviet Union was an evil empire bent on taking over the world. But I seem to remember a lot more freedom too. Not that there isn’t plenty today, but maybe it’s my bias against social media that has me thinking we’re all pretty much prisoners right now. Hey, it was always a simpler time. It always is when you don’t have the cares of the world weighing you down.

So here we are. Yesterday I wrote about how it was quite a year for me (so far). Today I’m reminded that so much time has passed since another great summer 40 years ago. A lot has happened since then, and a lot more should.