Change

And I went down to my old neighborhood
The faces have all changed, there's no one left to talk to
And the pool hall I loved as a kid is now a 7-11

Over the past 2 months, we've been slowly leaving the house my parents bought 3 weeks before their wedding in 1959. As the process literally moved along, I have had this Social Distortion song rolling around in my head.  This weekend, the move kicked into high gear with a U-haul, an amazingly popular "free stuff in the driveway" giveaway, and a lot of help. Earlier today as I made one final dump run, I pulled over and snapped this picture. Because of the song and because the 7-11 I loved as a kid, is still still a 7-11. I was never any good at pool.

Tip to all legal college drinkers: A big gulp makes an excellent, cheap mixer. Go heavy on the ice, light on the Coke, then add some other adult beverage of choice and you are go to go. I was a Seagram VO guy back in the day. Classy, right? And the secret to a good microwavable "egg and cheese ham-lette"...add the pepper before microwaving. One time we were in there and my buddy Derek bought a Moon Pie. On the wrapper it suggests microwaving the pie. So he does. The moon pie makers weren't thinking of strong commercial microwaves and even the lowest button proved to be too much for the moon pie which inflated, expanded and then exploded all over the inside of the microwave. It happened over 20 years ago. I'm still laughing.

Some institutions like a town's 7-11 manage to remain the same, other things change. For example, my bedroom never looked like this when I lived in it.

Truth be told, when I lived in it, I doubt you could have seen the carpet through the combination of junk and dirty laundry.  As I drove away from the house this afternoon, after having spent my last night there, the Social Distortion song was back.

Good times come and good times go
I only wish the good times would last a little longer
I think about the good times we had and why they had to end

But as one chapter closes, a new one begins. The new chapter has a pool and has already started its own good times. The condo's pool is apparently home to several new Olympic events including synchronized jumping

 And the very challenging (don't try this home) sport of synchronized one arm handstands.

Even though the Olympics are over, the kids are still cheering for Team USA. In the events, they pretend to be other countries and the other countries never win. It's kind of funny to watch them sabotage their own performance. "Hey, Allison. I'm China and I'm doing the puppy paddle!"