When Life is Good & the Fruit is Just Right.

Moe came on the radio. The jam band, and it was a deep cut- an oldie from their first or second album. “Brent Black” maybe- I’m really not sure what song it was. I recognized it and sure I could look it up. But that’s not the point.

The song came on as I was driving around the small streets of Northern Liberties. These were the streets made for horses. The horses are still around, still cloppin’ up and down the street. It was evening, the end of the holiday weekend and of course there was a line outside of Honey’s. Weekends, holidays, really nice mornings. The place is generally busy, often bustling, and on those times- the Sunday mornings especially, but any morning when the sun is out- summer or winter, rocking with a line out the door and across 4th Street.

Lately I have been noticing that a lot of people my age are dropping status updates that end with life is good. These folks are really, really happy. So happy that they want to type quickly, about how awesomely happy they are and how this moment, the moment they are currently scribing about, is perfect or this is good. Because when life is good, it’s the cats pajamas. It’s not like describing a day at the beach as good. That means it was just okay, that it wasn’t terrible. But if life, the living you’re doing and bip-bopping' around right now is good…then it’s a beach day that is the most epic of beach days, the day of days when it comes to beaching and magnificently you are beaching the shit out of the day.

But when are my moments like that?

I have yet to be compelled to ever drop something as positive and life affirming as that. If status updates were happening on those beautiful summer nights on the bay with Captain Johnny, I could see myself then dropping a life is good update. Cap would say it like it was an advertisement, like he was selling the joint as real estate, and it was something that kid, you wanted to get into. The way he said it, beckoned appreciation. It was just like eating yogurt. It was never as good. Although we both felt strongly about the fruit portions in the yogurt and I urged him to call the number on the back & to give them a piece of his mind.

He never did, which was probably for the best. Columbo probably couldn’t handle an angry Captain Johnny.

Those summer evenings were the life is good moments and so were Moe shows and that tune coming on the radio made me quick to realize that. It brought a smile to face and I turned the radio up. Ah and I was so suddenly back to the 9:30 Club in DC or that dome in Baltimore. The Moe shows we went to back in college, in the early years when we were young- kicking and rocking & rolling our way to the best happy hippy shows in the mid-Atlantic. For a Northeast dude, it seemed like so much travel, but it was so worth it. So much fun, so many times when you laughed because life is good dude!

I don’t know if it’s a bad thing that I haven’t felt compelled to drop such a triumphant status update and I don’t know if it’s a slightly lame thing that I’m even thinking about this. It’s not much, it’s only thoughts and it could be because that well, now I live alone and only today, did I just bring in a plant I could talk too.

It could be coming up. That could be exciting. It really is.

I’d say it’s going to keep me up, but no sir I cannot promise you that.

But my life is good moment has to be coming and when it does, I can only hope it is something triumphant enough to trump yogurt-eating and hippie dancing. But if it doesn't, it's reassuring enough to know that I have those to fall back on.

And admittedly, fruit portions are kind of shitty in Columbo.

But I love me some strawberry & banana.

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