Right place, right time

I've had good timing on more than one occasion in my life. It was good timing to ...

• Grow up in LA in the 50s. To be a white teenager in a city large enough to have vibrant black radio stations at the birth of rock and roll.
• To be in the Army Security Agency, 1959-62, too late for Korea, too early for Vietnam, but with "safer" excitement with the Berlin Wall crisis.
• Grad school, Univ of Oregon, Eugene, 1960s, early 70s, to be on any large university campus then.
• Portland, Oregon, 1980s, particularly as a playwright in its vibrant theater scene.

And since then? Nothing like the same energy, I'm afraid. Times change. I count my blessings. I watch younger people create their special and different worlds. I find a few to cheer on. I marvel at how much changes -- and how little. I'm glad I'm not younger. I count my blessings again.