Set Adrift on the Memory Bliss....

 

A couple pints and I'm set adrift on a memory bliss...

In the mid 90s I was completely lost, emotionally and more, feeling the need to recoup and recalibrate my life. I returned home to my parent's place after a less than stellar couple of years and began hanging out at a local bar called Shuffles, a pub filled with the riff raff of East end Hammer life, myself included.

On occasion I would get to drink some beers and shots with a couple of my Uncles. To me, mid 20's broken hearted Polk, they were sage elders, bringing wisdom from the mountain top, along with whiskey shots and pitchers of beer. It wasn't many times, I drank alone or with whoever hung out the longest in the bar a lot of the time, but the image remains of getting to hang out with them and feel like I wasn't some dumbass kid who had completely fucked up his life at that point. I felt like I belonged and along with some other old drunks who'd taken me under their wings, I felt accepted. It was a weird time between loves and as life changed so did I, moving on and leaving behind that sacred temple of cabbage rolls, perogies and $5 pitchers of Canadian...but sometimes I reminisce about those days and smile a little at the time I had.

Then the other day I was thinking of those real good times and pondered just how old my late Uncle Tom and, (still with us, cheers!) Uncle Lloyd were back then and realised that not only weren't they old then, I'm damn near the age they WERE then now... when I though they were old guys drinking with me.

Seriously.

I'm the old guy who should be dispensing life wisdom at the local pub, listening to stories of love and loss and life and offering insights into a world the young folks are just dipping a toe in. I know it's a silly thing, but I feel a very real connection to them and all they taught me, whether they meant to or not, because it's lasted almost 3 decades and that means something to me. 

So when this is all done, or maybe before, I'll think I need to find a local spot to hang out, spend some time doing what I do best, drinkin', thinkin' and helping the next generation find their way forward.

To my Uncles, I say thank you....love you...

Polk