Older, wiser or not?

Time was, there would be occasions when driving around with high school buddies, we would see something like a cardboard sign propped up by the side of the road with black spray-painted letters reading: "BUD PARTY," with an accompanying arrow pointed down the road.

Now, that was an incidence that would startle us into rampant mythologizing. Who would attend such an affair? And there would be active debate as to whether we should follow the direction of the arrow to find out.

Well, last Sunday I saw such a sign. My son K was in the back seat and we were headed to a trucker's house to purchase a split queen box spring to replace the full queen box spring that couldn't navigate the switchback in our New House stairs. All I could do is glance at the sign looking lonely by the freeway off-ramp and curse myself for not having a camera to capture the image. I continued on my task and let "BUD PARTY" rage on without me.

Or, there was a time when we reveled in the irrelevant. A card celebrating an event was most treasured when it had the least connection with the sentiment that should've been expressed. Thus, a birthday card was most likely a wedding anniversary message meant for an octogenarian and "get well" cards served all occasions because we all needed to get over something.

Or, gag gifts were prolific. Thrift stores often yielded t-shirts that said things like "Relax, I'm a pro" or "Lincoln Elevators, we guarantee our erections." These would suffice for serendipitous gift exchanges.

Now, I don't do these things so much anymore. I still have the urge, but I think: If I'm really going to give a gift, I don't simply want to add to a friend's accretion of stuff. So, I'm more cautious, but I do buy those high school friends the gift that everyone should have.