Column

The older you get, the more things you will miss

By ERNEST HOOPER, Times Columnist
Published September 17, 2007

I miss Katie Couric on the Today show (sorry Meredith).

I miss dancing the night away at the Hurricane.

I miss reading the Independent Florida Alligator in front of General Purpose Building A at the University of Florida.

I miss the Legislature actually solving problems.

I miss Selena's crab rolls.

I miss $75 getting you and three friends into Disney World - instead of just you.

I miss hearing Jeb Bush speak Spanish.

I miss putting my infant daughter to sleep by running water in the bathroom.

I miss feeling safe in Ybor City after midnight.

I miss the Chinese place on Fourth Street in St. Petersburg that was located in the old KFC.

I miss Tony Dungy coaching the Bucs.

I miss Father Knows Best reruns.

I miss calling my late mom, who taught French, and asking her to spell "je ne sais quoi."

I miss listening to Patsy Cline's Crazy on the jukebox at the Chatterbox Lounge.

I miss county commission initiatives that proved to be models for the rest of the nation.

I'm gonna miss baseball at Al Lang Field.

I miss the quarterly cost-of-living checks I used to get from this paper. But I appreciate the weekly checks.

I miss covering Friday night high school football games.

I miss partying at the Yucatan Liquor Stand.

I miss when my two teenage sons watched Barney every day.

I miss Skeeter's Big Biscuits.

I miss Paul de la Garza, my friend and colleague who died in October. I still have his number programmed in my phone.

That's all I'm saying.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 20:46:41]