the more things change…

when i was a kid the third most wonderful day of the year came in october…

…and it wasn’t halloween. that would be the fourth for me back then.

the first was juneteenth. not because i was that racially aware, or socially active, but because it was my birthday so, being in a white family, it was all about me that day.

(i have wondered if people of color who share my birthday, now that it’s a federal holiday, have that same feeling people who have halloween and valentine’s birthdays do? at least it’s not as bad as xmas where they could combine your gifts!)

that was the second most wonderful day of the year, of course – xmas. not all about me, but you get free shit and you’re out of school! (just like my birthday!). the third was a floater, in the sense that it changed. but it happened. like clockwork. and i was the first to know about it because i was the one that always got the mail, so i was the first to lay my grubby little hands on the SEARS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CATALOG!

that was the shit back then! that was when you saw all the new toys and possibilities for what you could get santa to drop under the tree. you could dream. you would wish. you could share these things with family members who may, or may not, make them come true. but the potential was there, and you knew what your options were. it was like getting the menu handed to you at a restaurant – the feast is imminent, and now you may select your main course and sides!

this week, to my surprise, we got the amazon version of this. it is a LOT smaller than what we got back then, but these days kids see stuff as it comes out in real time ALL THE TIME thru their screens. so it’s not quite the catch up it was for us back then. i wonder if it holds the same magic for them it did for us? something tells me it doesn’t because they, unlike us, are constantly being groomed not by trans or gays but by targeted marketing.

ask your kids or grand kids – i’m curious.