I started a new job this September in downtown Detroit. It's the first Autumn in basically my entire life that I haven't been headed back to school. I went to the season opener at Michigan Stadium. I went to one of my happy places, Plymouth Orchard and Cider Mill, and admired the horses and the roosters while enjoying an apple cider slush. I went to another one of my happy places, the Penn Theater, where I got to see Psycho with my mom, my brother, and his girlfriend. Today, I met my undefined-relationship-girlfriend's sister and her husband over Buddy's pizza at lunch. It all seems like I should be happy. But yet again, for another Fall season, I can't help but feel like I am just going through the motions. Happy has always been elusive for me.
I got up from the couch after a Lions victory hoping to go for a run - which always helps - only to glance out the window at the rain coming down on a Michigan September day. It seemed a very fitting end to this ho-hum September. I hung my head a bit and lay back down on the couch, throwing in probably my fourth wad of chewing tobacco of the day already. Maybe it was the rain. Maybe it was the Michigan bye week throwing my emotions off the rails.
I stared at the football on the television and couldn't help but feel pretty damn old. My first thought - inexplicably - was John Mellencamp and Jack and Diane.
Oh yeah, life goes on,
Long after the thrill, of living is gone.
