You may be old if...you need to chew your oatmeal. If the waitress who
used to call you Honey, now rubs your bald head and calls you Pops. You may be
old if....you remember when Suzuki only made two strokes. Or when they ,made
the Rotary, I had a 1976 as a demo...when BMW stood for British What?...when
motorcycles shifted on the right...when a Norton was one up and three
down...when Honda only made motorcycles...when Sunoco 260 at 35 cents/gallon was
expensive...when Ontario and Riverside had race tracks...when to win the AMA #1
plate you competed in both dirt and road racing...how to kick start a
motorcycle...when your car only had crank style windows...when Land Rover was a
British, then German, then an American company...now an Indian company...when
Mercedes Benz owners were in the upper 2% of wage earners...when Chrysler was an
American company...when California had no helmet law....
You may be old if you remember when no motorcycles were allowed on the
Garden State Parkway...Cycle magazine, Road Rider...Cycle Guide....how could
anyone afford to pay $1795 for a Z-1...how a tariff on over 700cc motorcycles
saved Harley...700cc bikes that once were 750’s...how AMF saved Harley, read the
history, then decide...when the last convertibles were made in 1976....when VW
only made Beetles...when Petty was King, and we all were blown away...if you
knew Steve McQueen was a motorcycle racer who acted...if you knew what came
before and after Then Came Bronson...Bob Dylan crashed his 500cc Triumph...when
we all started on 50cc dirt bikes.
You may be old if you had a mini-bike....if your Dad’s lawn mower engine
powered it...if you watched Route 66 for the cars...if you had STP stickers on
your book covers...sissy bars, the bigger the badder...points, plugs, and
condensors, every 6000 miles...your first time going 100 mph on
anything...Friday nights in the garage with friends getting your bikes ready for
the Saturday ride...when gas stations were closed on Sundays...when bike shops
were closed on Mondays too....buddy seat sitters...Buick portholes...Pontiac,
Oldsmobile, Plymouth and Mercury...really old if you remember Packard, Hudson,
and Studebaker...no Lexus or Infiniti...Datsun...your Mom’s trunk stuffed with
friends trying to sneak into the drive in...curb service...gas station
attendants...the 55 mph speed limit...and getting ticketed at 56, safety as an
excuse...free road maps...free gifts from the oil companies...when regular meant
leaded...removing the catalyctic converters to use regular leaded
gas...Saabs...really old if you knew they made two strokes...and we talked cubic
inches instead of cubic centimeters.
Still feeling old...how about 15 cent hamburgers...Coke with no
ice...double headers on Sunday afternoons...Elio Chacon...the Chargers in Los
Angeles the first time...baseball without any New York national league
teams...Bobby Thompson’s shot heard around the world...when nurses only wore
white...candy stripers...when Trix were for kids....less sound = more
ground...warnings in theaters about pay TV...your first digital watch...TV’s
without remotes...with only 4 channels and something was always on to watch, now
over 200 and nothing is on...Easter break, Christmas vacation-not the
movie...seeing Goldfinger at the theater...candy bars were a nickel, gum a
penny, Twinkies two for five cents...asking the attendant to fill the oil and
check the gas...the shock of your first paycheck with taxes taken out...when
Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America...when NASCAR was for only
American stock cars...Smoky Yunick and his 7/8’s Chevelle...the New
Coke....Pepsi Free, and Tab, and Lisa Parker the Tab girl. Feeling old yet? I
may be old, but at least I got to see all the cool bands.
You may be old if you were there in the beginning...if you think Charlton
Heston really was Moses...if you think Jesus is Just Alright....if you think the
Lord really will buy you a Mercedes Benz....and that will make amends...if your
first prayer was “now I lay me down to sleep”...if you remember when the
Methodists were conservative, and sin was still sinful...if the pages in your
Bible are worn out but your life isn’t...you remember being the new kid in the
senior Bible study...if you and Jesus have been friends a long, long time you’re
on a first name basis...if you look forward to heaven more than you look ahead
to the future....if you remember the first printing of the New Testament...if
Martin Luther had you proof read his 95 Theses...if you thought church and
religion meant Jesus...and found life when you found there was more to him than
just that...you remember your friends Bar Mitzvahs at their retirement
dinner...if you are the last remaining person in your graduating class...and if
going home means heaven and not an address with a zip code....or remember
addresses before zip codes.
Getting old is not for sissies, and God allows us to look back on what he
has done in our lives, to give us a hope and a future. A hope and a future only
found in Jesus Christ. Something no religion, church, denomination, cult, nor
other belief system can produce. Only Jesus is the way...and if you feel old,
he will make you new again. Born again. And each day closer to heaven than the
day before. You may be old, you don’t have to feel old. You may get older, you
don’t have to get old. Look ahead, that is where we are going to spend the
future...
So if you remember Tom Swiftees...where you were when JFK was shot...Game
6...VJ/VE Day...turning 21...voting at age 18...the Chrysler crank...know what a
fratzog is....had a Ford in your future...saw the USA in your Chevrolet...met
the nicest people on a Honda...rather have a Buick...weren’t allowed to drive
your father’s Olds...had a horn that went Beep Beep...were there the day the
music died...you have much to look back on. My prayer is you have the hope of
heaven to look forward to. That your days left on earth are as blessed as the
days behind.
And the good news is, if you remember at all, you just passed the
Alzheimer’s test. Take one more lap around the grounds in your wheelchair, have
a double Ensure, turn down your hearing aid and get a good nights sleep.
Knowing that when you lay me down to sleep, you know the Lord your soul to
keep. Something to never forget.
And you may be young if you don’t remember any of this at all...we pray
someday you will. But for now....like Archie Bunker said “those were the
days...”
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com