{"id":4354,"date":"2016-05-06T11:07:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T18:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/?p=4354"},"modified":"2016-05-05T11:13:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T18:13:48","slug":"big-birthday-memory-11-remembrance-of-things-past-tom-jones-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/06\/big-birthday-memory-11-remembrance-of-things-past-tom-jones-and-so-much-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Birthday Memory #11: Remembrance of Things Past – Tom Jones and So Much More"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Albert Finney and Susannah York as Tom and his love Sophie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NOTE: As I approach my 70th birthday, I\u2019ll reprise a milestone post here each day until the end of May. Today \u2013 from September 17, 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not to be too obscure here but think about this: Marcel Proust\u2019s REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST<\/a>was inspired by the scent of one cookie (a fancy one called a Madeline.) Sense memory is a powerful thing.<\/p>\n

I saw Tom Jones<\/a> 44 years ago, with my high school \u201cfilm club.\u201d The club was just 6 seniors and our creative writing teacher. Our mill town high school wasn\u2019t a culture haven but this young teacher was. He handwrote Irwin Shaw short stories onto \u201cditto sheets\u201d because there was no budget for the books, started a literary magazine (I was the editor, naturally) took us to Shakespeare performances and \u2014 started the film club. At first we rented films (screened on a projector in his classroom) and then moved on to evening journeys \u201cdowntown\u201d to local art houses. We saw LA STRADA<\/a> and THE SEVENTH SEAL<\/a>, SUNDAYS AND CYBELE<\/a> and SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER<\/a> \u2014 and TOM JONES. The films were so intelligent, so clearly different from the \u201cmovies\u201d we saw on our own; the theaters served espresso andeveryone<\/em> was smoking. How sophisticated we felt!<\/p>\n

This morning as I watched this nearly half-century old film \u2013 still funny and charming even though the playful sexual innuendo recalls a more tender time, that 18-year-old girl I\u2019d been came back \u2013 all of her. I didn\u2019t know whether to be sad \u2014 miss all that I was then \u2013 all that\u2019s changed \u2014 lost \u2014 or just plain passed \u2013 or to be grateful for the remarkable kaleidoscope of experiences that my life has been. From the adventure of a 36 year old marriage<\/a> to the joy of raising two of the most spectacular young men <\/a>on the planet to presences at royal weddings and presidential inaugurations, travel all over the world and great music experiences <\/a>to a gentle childhood with talents acknowledged and appreciated to memorable private moments at weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations and other celebrations with family and friends<\/a>, a lot has contributed to the wiser woman I am today. I know there\u2019s no way to live the life I\u2019ve lived \u2013 or any other \u2013 without losing some of the shiny stuff of youth but even so it\u2019s a shock when awareness of those losses lands on you in the middle of an unambiguously optimistic movie 44 years old.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I think: there isn\u2019t a person on the planet (despite Edith Piaf) who has no regrets. Recalling days that seem idyllic is a privilege \u2013 many haven\u2019t got many to recall. Sadness about the joys of the past emerges only from an accumulated reservoir of happiness that is a blessing in itself. As Auntie Mame used to say\u201cLife is a banquet, and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death.<\/em>\u201d My sisters and I swore we would live by that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried \u2013 and I\u2019m still trying. That\u2019s why this blog is called Don\u2019t Gel Too Soon<\/a>. Wherever that 18 year old film fiend has gone, parts of her are still part of me \u2013 informing and enlivening the person I\u2019ve become. The real challenge in this portion of my life is to hang onto the enthusiasm and curiosity of those years \u2013 never freezing in place. The last line in Tom Jones, one of my favorite anywhere, was written by John Dryden<\/a> \u2013 way before movies or even radio. It still works though, and I offer its wisdom for us all. \u201cHappy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/header>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOTE: As I approach my 70th birthday, I\u2019ll reprise a milestone post here each day until the end of May. Today \u2013 from September 17, 2007. Not to be too obscure here but think about this: Marcel Proust\u2019s REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PASTwas inspired by the scent of one cookie (a fancy one called a Madeline.) … Continue reading Big Birthday Memory #11: Remembrance of Things Past – Tom Jones and So Much More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3799,3800,3,4,3798,3801,5,6,28,7,29],"tags":[1933,192,2109,1217,107,369,2374,3417,3416,2111,3414,2110,73,10,800,3834,2108],"class_list":["post-4354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3799","category-3800","category-aging","category-baby-boom","category-big-birthday","category-big-birthday-70-1946-2016","category-books","category-culture","category-film","category-life","category-women","tag-1933","tag-aging-2","tag-albert-finney","tag-auntie-mame","tag-baby-boom-2","tag-baby-boomers","tag-culture-2","tag-family","tag-film","tag-john-dryden","tag-life","tag-living","tag-movies","tag-music-2","tag-oscars","tag-televisiontags-life-is-a-banquet","tag-tom-jones"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gBq8-18e","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4354"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4360,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions\/4360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}