Then/Now

Over the weekend, I encountered a serious bout of the then-and-nows. It started by going through some old albums and stacks of photos for Dirty Jase, looking for a something about which he had inquired. So, I came across some other items I thought had a little current relevance, in a coupe of odd coincidences.
First is this old black-and-white I found.

It looks like some old camping trip or something. That’s my dad in the middle, shirtless. I always liked this photo for a couple of reasons, namely, the cool, old-timey pickup truck in the back and the kid down in the front right corner. I don’t know who he is, maybe a cousin, but I dig that shirt he’s wearing. I have the exact same old Tigers logo keychain. Interesting then, that two weeks ago, and without prompt from this picture, which I didn’t find until two days ago, I bought this this shirt:

The second bit of nostalgia came courtesy of one of my nephews. I have a lot of friends with kids, and many of them I affectionately refer to as my nephews, because I’m tight with their parents, kind of like siblings or something. But, I do have real, blood-relative nephews (and two nieces), four of them to be exact. The second-oldest is Sam and he’s about to graduate high school this year. I love that young man, he’s a good kid. He’s bright, savvy and has a stunning vocabulary. I asked him about college and he said he’s looking at a few schools. His criteria/benchmark for deciding on a degree-granting institution of higher learning? What their library carries in the way of work by J.D. Salinger. If it’s sparse, they’re potentially off the list. But, like I said, he’s an intelligent, industrious guy who had to make a go of growing up with an absent mother and a dad who is more like his best friend than a parent. Sam has a distinct talent and this sort of qualified edge about him, even at his age. I’d like to think he lends a bit of hope to his generation. It’s a great story, actually. He’s a total film head and plans to pursue a degree in some type of related field. We’ve been to a couple of theater productions at his school, a sort of “Fame”-like facility for kids with an interest in the arts and sciences. He’s, as they say, solid. Kerry and I got an invite to his graduation party in the mail last week. After rifling through some of the aforementioned imagery, I found this, his kindergarten photo.

I find it an interesting contrast to his senior portrait.

So yes, a remarkable then-and-now phenomenon this weekend. Now, if I could just wake up tomorrow (now) with the same 180-pound frame and full head of hair I had 20 years ago (then), we’d be all set.