1962

It’s probably because I’m an only child and have a predisposition towards conceit, but I am amazed at how many sidewalks are stamped 1962, the year I was born. Maybe there was a lot of public money available that year. Or politicians were so relieved that Kennedy hadn’t blown us to bits that they decided to lash out on civic improvement. These sidewalks are the old kind with big brown pebbles mixed into the concrete. Tough as anything and able to withstand nearly fifty years of snow and ice and rain and gob and ghostly stains of gum once chewed.