Have a Nice Life

I was reminded last night at the total and complete unpredictability of life.

It was the fall of 1970. I was at The University of Arizona at Tucson. I had gotten a ticket in Phoenix on my way to Prescott, in Northern Arizona, to visit a friend. A cop had cited me for hitchhiking...but then drove me to a place, just a few feet off of the Interstate, where it was legal. Why he just didn't do that in the first place is beyond me...maybe it was my long hair, scraggly attempt at a beard, dirty jeans, backpack (actually, knapsack back then...) and guitar. That might have been the reason...God Damned Hippie...!

Anyway, I had borrowed my roomate's little blue Honda 125cc and went up to Phoenix to pay the ticket (not aware that I could mail in the $40.00...idiot!)

The motorcycle broke down and an ordeal ensued that resulted in extra expenditure, three days in Tempe and an interesting moment in the "where are they now?" category.

I met a woman in a gas station with whom I hooked up for a couple of days. She was travelling with another, older, couple and I was invited to stay with them for the night at the Holiday Inn. The next night we "crashed" with some kids at Arizona State. The band "Sugarloaf" of "Green Eyed Lady " fame was playing at a fraternity party. That seemed amazing to me at the time because they had a hit...on the radio! What the hell were they doing at Arizona State University...for free...?! The following day I got the bike fixed and went back to Tucson, after paying the ticket (see above...)

The interesting thing to me is that I had never met this girl before that moment. We spent two nights together and then went our separate ways. I never saw her again.

Ok, it was the early 70's...just out of the sixties with all of the sexually revolutionary stuff and women's lib, etc. But where did she go?

Did she go on to get married and have a family? Did she become a professional woman and make a difference in society over the past, almost, 50 years?

Or did she go off with some bikers into the Arizona desert and OD on heroin. Did she enlist in the Army and die in Viet Nam. Did she end up in prison somewhere on a weapons or murder charge.

I'll probably never know. I'd like to think the former. I'd like to think that she escaped the era without too many bruises and is happy somewhere, possibly a grandmother, in retirement or anticipating it and full of good memories of her time way back then.

Maybe I'm even one of them. She's certainly one of mine.

Her name was Linda. They called her "Mouse."

Hi Mouse. I hope you're well.

I hope you've had a nice life.