“When I Grow To Old To Dream”

It was in the middle of the great depression and people everywhere were having a hard time in life.  Many waited in soup lines, many waited in employment lines and many just waited.  The country and the world were suffering together and seeing no end to the financial disaster.  But somewhere in all this chaos, someone had a dream, out of which we got a new film and a beautiful song.   WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM From the film “The Night Is Young” (1935) (Sigmund Romberg / Oscar Hammerstein II).  I have absolutely no idea what the film was about but I have lived that song all my life.  You see, I was born in 1935 and from the time I could remember, I have heard that song, and finally learned to play that song and often sang that song.

What now, well believe it or not, I have almost, just almost grown too old to dream.  I am so much better off than those who lived that period of life.  The life span was around 43 and here I am a very healthy 75.  Getting back to the old and dreams, I do not have the ambitions of a young fellow nor the fears of those close to death.  I do not dream of conquering new ventures of business or making breaks in science but I do love a cup of coffee early in the morning sitting on the porch swing.  Sipping that warm brew I do remember, yes, I do walk by a special remember room where in times past I stored wall to wall things of this very special lady and I shared.  Things like our many treks down by the stream close to where we lived.  Holding hands and laughing as if nothing else mattered.  Well, it didn’t, not really for we were in love and what did matter was being together.

The only lady I ever truly loved.  The love that comes from deep down inside.  Life was all about her and our times together.  Oh! yes, we had our dreams, we lived our dreams but way to short.  Family and the house of many days of dreaming, finally coming true.  It would be so nice for me to say our dreams were more and greater than others but that is not so.  Perhaps to the degree I loved her, but little else.  We would play together and cry together, plan our dreams together and make some of them come true.  Were there troubles, you bet, way to many now that I look back, many could have been avoided.  Being young and in experienced we did what the Jones’s did.  We over spent for material things, big houses and cars we did not need but had to have.  Then it was possible to afford vacations but we never took enough of them.  That is hindsight and in this room of remembers, these are troubles so are not stored, not in this special room.