Now and Then... And Now, Again

I had a wonderful opportunity to spend this past weekend in Phoenicia, NY with friends.  I was able to reminisce about my youth by taking them to see my parents' summer home on Esopus Creek Road in Saugerties, walk the streets of Woodstock, NY and seeing what was once known as Suzie's Cottages, where we spent a couple of weeks in the summer of 1966.

It was such a long time ago; a total time of innocence. I was only fifteen the first time I remember spending my time in Ulster County, not far from Kingston.

Now, I found myself looking at my past, wondering what I had done all those years ago, and where the last fifty years went. It seemed like the snap of my fingers. Poof! So much has gone by.

Laurie and Chuck were such gracious hosts to us, willing to indulge me as I was able to step back in time, to a time long lost. Then, when I shared these memories with my girlfriend, she told me she spent time in many of those same places. Possibly at the same time.

Wow!

Even in upstate New York, our paths may have crossed. We knew we crossed many years ago in Manhattan, where we had lunch in the Plaza of the now-destroyed World Trade Center at the same time, but not actually meeting until many years later. We also realized that we could have taken the same buses, gone to Broadway and even been sitting in the same coffee houses, bars and diners without knowing we existed.

I mean, what were the chances?

But to have spent our youths in the same place was actually surreal, right? I think so.

But, as usual, I digress.

I found myself thinking how young my family was, with me as the oldest, in 1966. We thought we were so sophisticated, so mature. But in actuality, innocence was a virtue, which had become a distant memory. Until this weekend.

I was fifteen and my youngest brother was five when we stepped for the first time in Phoenicia. But when I sent those pictures to my family, they all said the same thing: fond, great memories. And this all came to pass because I met this girl in July.

She has made such an impact on me, to once again write, but from a whole other perspective. Then, when she felt the time was right, she introduced me to her friends. Like Laurie and Chuck.

We hit it off, right away, as well. And, as it happens, Laurie and I grew up about two miles away. What are those chances? Really?

The coincidences are just amazing to me. I know that I am rambling, but to me, I cannot believe that so many people that I have recently met could have the same experiences in the same places as I did.

Oh. And I also recently met Luci, another friend of Laurie and my girlfriend, who hung out at The Chop House and Whiskey Red's in Garden City, when I did.

Fifty years later. What are the odds?