For Feelin' Old's Sake

When I was in high school, cheerleaders wore saddle shoes. Unbelievable. Fun fact: J. Geils was a Boston band. And though an old stranger in a striped t-shirt like Peter Wolf never made the rounds during any one of my study halls, the drummer, Stephen Bladd, was the first-cousin of one of my classmates. I went to her Bat Mitzvah, and it was rumored he'd be there. All excitement was for not as he simply sat there in his mullet at a round table with family. Boring.

Sure, these "coming of age" occasions were much more simple back in the day, but if I were a Jew, and Stephen Bladd were my cousin, and I had a bat mitzvah, and I invited my 300 best friends from Junior High to the occasion, you'd better believe he'd be doing more than plastering a dry dinner roll with butter.

PS I just googled Stephen Bladd and found out that he's older than my father. No wonder he just wanted to eat a dinner roll and be done with the whole thing.