THE HAPPY DAYS - 02.27.2021
February 27, 2021
In my upcoming novel SKYWARD, the Bowman Twins and their Clique want to return to 'The Happy Days' their parents talked about. These days are gone from Earth. Maybe they could start to be regenerated on the Moon. Perhaps that's why I'm writing this novel.
The Twins want the people that populated their moon colony to feel happy, calm, and useful. They want to leave the Earthly problems back down on Earth. In fact, they decide bad actors in the Bowman Colony will be returned to purgatory (Earth).
They want the Bowman Colony inhabitants to smile, laugh, and indulge themselves. Here are the five things they came up with to accomplish their wish, (1) that they feel close and connected to each other; (2) that they feel safe and secure; (3) that they do things that trigger sensory pleasure; (4) that they keep active; and (5) that they feel relaxed and at peace.
The photo accompanying this post was sent to me on Facebook by my Hollywood High School Friends 1950 – 1970 group (Thanks, Sheryl Ellison). While we weren't born in the '50s, we spend the best part of our lives in the '50s. It was a great time to grow up. People actually liked each other and enjoyed working together. At least that's what I remember.
I loved sipping on a chocolate malt at the soda fountain in the drug store at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland talking with my friends. Then there was the cruising in cars we could repair ourselves up and down Hollywood Boulevard. When you got caught at a stoplight, often the passengers would run from one car to another.
The businesses that started or that became popular in the '50s are rapidly disappearing. Recently many of them have fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic. Fry's Electronics has now joined the company of Blockbuster, Sports Chalet, Linens-N-Things, Thom McAn, Sports Authority, Circuit City, Federated, Tower Records, Mervyn's, and CompUSA as stores that have gone out of business in the last decade.
Our Nation has lost over 500,000 people in the past few months to the coronavirus. Many of them were Happy Day's people. One that survived is getting a lot of attention lately. Lucia DeClerck celebrated her 105th birthday on January 25 – the same day she was diagnosed with COVID-19. She beat it, which means this centenarian has survived two pandemics. She was two years old when the Spanish flu began.
DeClerck's son Henry indicated, "She's just been open with everything in life, and I think that has really helped her because she hasn't hesitated to do whatever she's wanted to do."
When asked about her secret to longevity, DeClerck said: "Pray, pray, pray. And don't eat junk food." But she told the Times there may be another reason she survived COVID-19 – the nine gin-soaked golden raisins she eats every morning.
I'm pretty much off junk food, and I do like my gin and tonics. In a few years, I may give the gin-soaked golden raisins a try.
Maybe in SKYWARD, there will be a soda fountain in the Bowman Colony on the Moon.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Richard V. Rupp, Author
Website – www.richardvrupp.com Email – rupprisk@gmail.com