O P E

I'm having an old man moment.

I loaded Google Earth after the jet on the runway post over at Barryland.  Just for shits and giggles I looked at The South 40 and all that used to be part of it when I was a child. The images are from 2008, nearly 1/2 a century from the time I first explored that land. I still remember navigating across it in that old yellow Ford pickup loaded down with feed, my Granddad at the wheel smoking a Prince Albert he rolled himself.

What depressed me was when I took a closer look at the land my Granddad owned when I was a kid. "The old stomping grounds" where I had free rein and spent much sweat working on with the promise "one day all this will be yours" had changed.

Be very leery when someone you trust tells you "all this will be yours". It's a ploy for free labor.

OK, without getting too Draconian it didn't happen. But, I couldn't help from searching out a couple of my favorite old hideouts. Those were places that had so much beauty and privacy that they held a very special place in my heart. Those secret places that were mine and mine alone. My Fortresses of Solitude, if you will.

"Someday I'm going to build my house right here" kinda spots.

Apparently, I have extremely good taste. When I zoomed in on both locations I discovered that someone else appreciated the landscape just as much as I did. There were 2 very nice McMansions built directly on top of both my dream spots.

That kinda hurt.

I didn't really feel violated as much as I felt a profound sense of  loss. Gone forever were those special hideaways that were mine and mine alone when I was a child. I was Neil Armstrong, the only man ever to to set foot on and explore that sacred ground. Now, I'm not even a footnote in it's recorded history.

I am no longer Neil Armstrong. I'm Jim Lovell, forced to watch something I worked so hard for that was to be mine for all of history, and came so close only ripped away from my fingertips forever only to be gifted upon others. Life is hard.

If they find the 2 quarts of tequila I buried there I'm really gonna be hurt.

I have lost my essence, Mandrake.