President’s Message

Dear Newcomers:

Last night, something happened. It started out somewhat ordinary but ended up amazing.

It started out when my friend said he had bought two tickets to see Eric Clapton at the Hollywood Bowl and would I go with him. My first response was NO and I had at least a million reasons for that answer.

First of all, I said, we are 71 and ¾ and 77 years old and although we have always loved going to concerts, we realize that its getting harder and harder physically. The walking, the parking situation or getting a ride in the traffic, more walking, the needing to go to the bathroom frequently problem combined with the endless bathroom lines and our ever increasing physical issues of knee pain, back pain and so on.

But I had more and more excuses. It’s October and its so cold (93 yesterday) and I feel tired and I have so much to do and I droned on endlessly. Believe me…I had plenty more but I could tell that he really wanted us to go and I didn’t want to disappoint him. Getting older has been full of losses and disappointments and I didn’t want this to be another one. So, I decided to go.

Yes, parking was challenging. Yes, there was a horrible accident on the Hollywood Freeway. And yes, it even got very cold at night.

We took the park and shuttle bus option for parking. After a lot of drama in Hollywood and an actual chase in the parking area, we settled on to the shuttle bus which would take us to the Bowl. I was so glad to have a seat that I didn’t notice the lovely young woman sitting next to me. Shortly after the bus started, she asked me, “Is this your first time at the Hollywood Bowl? It’s my first time and I drove down from Eureka.” I was shocked at her question and realized that because I grew up in the urban part of the center of West Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to be a regular visitor to the Bowl.

I told her, “ I went with my grandparents in the 1950’s and as a teenager in the 60’s, I went there to see The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Donovan, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and many, many more through the years.”

We went on to have one of those very bonding talks that I believe that females are the best at. The kind where you share deep information and feel like you’ve been friends forever. She was actually 66 years old and I was inspired by the fact that she drove many hours to attend a rock concert. Even though we knew we would never see each other again, we didn’t hold back in having a meaningful connection, however brief.

But I couldn’t afford to spend much time lamenting the loss of my new friend because we both knew we needed to focus on finding our seats and walking a million miles (all uphill) in a sea of humanity.

So when we finally found our seats and managed to purchase a $60 small snack, we settled in. The “vibe” was good and the crowd was friendly and helpful to each other. Both my friend and myself were asked if we wanted/needed help getting to our seats by other crowd member who could see us struggling with the climb. This was, of course, humiliating because we were pretending in our minds that we were the same as everyone else. But I filed this information in the part of my mind that might need to argue the We are Too Old argument for next time.

Well, I might mention here that Eric Clapton is actually 79 years old and should be an inspiration to us all. He appears physically fit and managed to play and sing for about two hours. I am not just saying this……I think this was the best concert I have ever been to. All of the musicians were top notch and they actually transformed me to another place and time.

There were hits galore in the line-up. They dated all the way back to when Eric Clapton was with Cream. Even if you weren’t a huge fan, you would know these songs. But the Magic part was this. I feel like I may struggle to explain what happened but I assure you that there were no drugs or alcohol involved.

Suddenly I felt as though I was transformed and taken inside a large bubble, kind of like a snow globe. I kind of saw my life flash before my eyes. This had happened
to me once when I thought I was drowning in the Pacific Ocean. But I was 15 then and the journey was a lot shorter. This time it took a lot longer and was a lot more powerful.

And I was filled with love and happiness and best of all gratitude. It all came at once and was all mixed together but it was not any less meaningful. I thought of how lucky I was to be alive and relatively healthy. I thought of how growing up I wanted children so badly and I have been lucky enough to have five children and now four grandchildren. I thought of the fact that I am blessed now to have free time and an education and to have grown up in Los Angeles with the ability to be exposed to so many people and cultures and rock concerts and the list went on endlessly.

And I remembered the transformative power of music. It made me feel. Passionately and deeply. I always say I self-medicate my moods with music but last night was an incredible experience.

So, I wanted to share this experience with you guys and remind you to stay open. I was closed and didn’t want to go to the concert and it turned out to be something that was so wonderful I struggle to put it into words. There are many bad things out there but there are so many wonderful things and people and books and music and nature that we still have time to experience.

I am not just an old lady and a grandma. Inside of me lives a young woman who loves to go to concerts and can climb the millions of stairs like a gazelle. Her heart is just as sweet as it ever was and she is nice and friendly and most of all kind.

I just need to wake her up once in a while and remind her to stay on the journey with me!!

Have a wonderful November and let’s not forget to remember all the things in our lives and in our world that we are thankful for.

I am grateful for my Newcomer friends.

Love,
Kathi