Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played the other night at halftime of the Super Bowl. I listened to him when I was a kid. He’s still out there, playing “American Girl”, “Refugee” and “Free Falling.” Back in the 80’s or so, when these songs came on the radio, I sang my lungs out. The lyrics were important…now they seem utterly ridiculous.
I moved on, why didn’t he?
As a teenager, I trusted that my boss at Burger King was a wise old soul in the area of not only fast food, but life. Certainly he had done something spectacular that had elevated him to the position of assistant night manager. They didn’t just hand those jobs out to anyone.
Years later I realize he was just a dumbass college student with a drinking problem.
He used to talk about “getting hit with the big stick,” which is the point in your life where innocence passes and you realize life is hard. Looking back, I don’t know what he could have been referring to. Maybe when Old Milwaukee’s Best Light when from $1.50 to $1.75 a six-pack.
By age 40, I thought I’d have it a little more together. But as I look around, neither does anyone else.
Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like?
