Birthday Play Day (Odd Socks #13)

Road trip to play in the sunshine and visit two fav places, the paradox of geezer coolness, and more.

Welcome to Odd Socks Issue #13

I write here about stuff that interests me, puts a smile on my face, or could use some clarity amidst the noise. Each issue includes two original articles plus bonus sections. Enjoy!

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Birthday Play Day

I’ve never been one to celebrate my birthday. Others sometimes insist, but it wasn’t a necessity for me. As I’ve aged, I have noticed the emotions on that day went from the youthful “Well, it’s me-day today!” to “Whew. Survived another-trip-around-the-sun day.”

So this year (last Sunday, to be exact), was that day.

Michigan weather being Michigan, that was not a good day for a little road trip with a few interesting stops. Yesterday, however, was a gorgeous spring-preview day, so off we went on a little country road driving, sightseeing, and visiting two of my favorite Lansing, MI places.

First stop? The Habana Delights food stand. Good for an exceptional (and exceptionally large) Cuban sandwich with a side of flan which is, in valley speak, to die for. (That was a valley speak idiom back in the day, wasn’t it?). We took our food and went further into Old Town and ate by the fish ladder. Weird name, but does what it sounds like and apparently there are still several around the country. Built to aid migrating fish during spawning season to get around the small dams in rivers, this one is still in use, I guess.

After overstuffing our bellies, off across the street we waddled to Odd Nodd. There aren’t many small stationery/art supply stores left, but in the Old Town part of Lansing, Odd Nodd’s proprietor Casey is keeping that vibe alive. The shop has a great art supplies selection, but also lots interesting non-art stationery goods too, such as cute Japanese goods, notebooks/journals/memopads, a good supply of quality fountain pens and ink, and lots more. There’s lots of cute supplies, games, and toys for kids as well.

If you’re ever in the Lansing area, both are well worth a stop to check out.

Geezer’s Paradox

Okay, let’s clear one thing up: that’s not a picture of me! I may have approached that level of geezer cool when I roamed America in my camper van, letting my beard grow long, my hair well down my back and pony-tailable. Add my dark Wayfarers, and my Tilly hat, and maybe. City life has tamed those hairy “wild” parts of me, it would seem (tamed but not exorcised it!).

I resonate with this phrase. It’s not about how one ages gracefully into an automatically increased level of cool, more that one can age gracefully into a healthy (and delightful) f*ck-it attitude, especially when being pragmatic about how one looks. And in that spirit of not trying to be cool, one becomes cool? Possibly. For sure, youthful days were angst-riddled about always looking and acting cool (or cool enough), but over time, who cares?

My housemate still laughs when I sometimes come downstairs in the morning wearing three oh-so-obviously-miss-matched layers of plaid: robe, pj bottoms, t-shirt. Don’t care. In fact, just from the fashionista expectations of youth alone, aging gracefully has the wonderful side benefit of that doesn’t matter anymore. Comfy, casual, and what’s clean, rule my fashion choices most days.

The geezer’s paradox frees up a lot of things, practices earned by making it this far with two feet standing on this planet. We who wear the marks of many trips around Sol are proud to keep this philosophy alive and well.

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