Selective Memory

 People generally remember the extremes of everything more than they do the normal stuff.   I remember the 1950s as having a couple of harsh winters and at least one mild one.  I remember the mild one because my grandparents went down to Florida around Christmas that year and it was actually warmer in Chicago than it was in Florida.  The winter of 1967 was a record breaker, both in Chicago and in Cheboygan.  I remember that because it was the year I got out of the army.  When I came home on March 1, the winter had already passed into local memory in Chicago but, when I visited Cheboygan two weeks later, the snow was still waist deep and the temp was 15 below.  I don't remember it ever being that cold in March since then, but I do remember the temperature ranging from zero to 100 in the month of April, 1970.  That's the year we moved into out new house in Indian River, about 20 miles south of Cheboygan.  I found out later that Indian River often has more extreme temperatures than Cheboygan because it's farther away from the Great Lakes.  Both towns are on the fringe of the Snow Belt, but Indian River is on the inside of the fringe while Cheboygan is on the outside.  

I found that Lou Rawls song on You Tube, and it sounded familiar.  That must have been where I got the idea that The Hawk was hatched in Chicago.  I don't remember any of the Black guys I knew in the army as coming from the Windy City.

I forget that you guys had crowded sidewalks in Chicago.  There are no sidewalks in my neighborhood, but they do have them in parts of Cheboygan.  The ones in the downtown strip may get crowded at times, but certainly not this time of year.  I still don't think masks are required outdoors in Michigan if people stay six feet apart.  Inside the stores, we are required to wear masks and stay six feet apart.  The mask rule is strictly enforced, but the six foot rule not so much, except when you're standing in the checkout line.

Queen Gretchen has graciously allowed school sports to resume, but of course the pending lawsuit had nothing to do with it.  All the players are wearing masks in the photos and videos that I have seen.  I get breathless just walking around in the supermarket wearing a mask, I can't imagine playing sports with one on, but the kids don't seem to have a problem with it.  Who was it that said, "Youth is such a wonderful thing, it's  shame that it's wasted on children."