A happy and healthy belated Mother’s Day to every mother reading today’s blog. Many of you already know that I grew up in a co-op in Brooklyn consisting of 4 buildings, each with 60 families. Mother’s Day I remember as something special. The weather was finally getting warmer. We would eat lunch or dinner in a local restaurant, but then at night, all of the neighbors, the adults and the kids, would all be outdoors, sitting on benches, playing in the street, enjoying truly great times. Someone had the ball game on the radio and we would root for the Mets or Yankees. Fun, care-free days.
Yesterday, I spent Mother’s Day in a condo in Tamarac. After the family was finger printed, subject to a strip search, passed the background check, sat for the interview and paid the required fee, we were allowed to rent out one of the party rooms for a few hours. That is, if we promised to keep the noise down. We still had a great time even though we were forced to promise to return the room in spic and span condition, and had to pay yet another lawyer to review the various waiver forms we were asked to sign. My ten year old refused to sign.
Instead of listening to the ball game on a transistor radio, there was a giant flat screen TV we had access to off to the side. The Mets or Yankees weren’t on, but The Miami Marlins were. I wasn’t surrounded by all of the neighbors, only the family. Of course, I wasn’t the child any longer either but had my own kids and of course a wife who was celebrating Mother’s Day.
The passage of time makes you look back, reflect and often times wonder how things got so different. Last night, still feeling nostalgic, I played around on the internet and found out that the owner of the management company that managed my Brooklyn co-op was indicted and did time for receiving kick backs on window contracts from contractors. Board members received them too.
Even though I’m a little older, a little grayer and far away from the city of my youth, I certainly realize that the old adage is true. The more things change……the more they stay the same.