Richie Havens Rocks On

In an NPR interview Richie Havens was interviewed about his long career. I have to admit that Woodstock was ‘before’ my time. I was 10 years old at the time, but living in Korea I was isolated. It was not until much later that I would hear my older brother John’s Woodstock albums.

But what caught me was his answer to a question about how or why at age 64 he ended his trademark ‘Freedom’ with a flying scissor kick on stage. His answer was so true: “You never really grow a a day older than the day you leave your mom’s house. That’s why we still act the way we do.”

My wife would agree. My kids don’t understand. But I really am the same kid I was when I left home. In my mind I am that same kid. Reality (and the bathroom mirror) forces me sometimes to acknowledge that 25+ years have passed; that I now have children ‘older’ than I am. But also it helps me to look at other men and realize that they too are suspended somewhere between 18 and 22 years of age.