A Certain Point of View, Too

Tempus Fugit: Then (1973) & Now (2023) – Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados
in , , , , ,

Photo by Giallo on Pexels.com

With the “Big Six-Oh” creeping ever closer – it is, as I write this, only 27 days away – I decided to do a comparison between Then (1973, the year I turned 10) and Now (2023, the year I turn 60).

Without further ado (I’m fresh out of it), let’s begin!

Official U.S. Government photo

President of the United States in 1973: Richard M. Nixon – Republican

Image Credit: Pixabay

President of the United States in 2023: Joseph R. Biden – Democrat

Coral Estates Park as seen in 2022 on Google Maps. A lot has changed since 1972!

Where Did You Live in 1973? Coral Estates Park neighborhood, Westchester, Dade County, Florida

Where Do You Live in 2023? Lithia, Florida (eventually, Brandon, Florida)

Favorite Song in 1973 (Not necessarily from 1973, mind you): Tie a Yellow Ribbon (‘Round the Ole Oak Tree), Tony Orlando & Dawn

Favorite Song in 2023: Perhaps Love (from 1981), John Denver & Placido Domingo

Favorite TV Show in 1973: Emergency! and The Partridge Family

Favorite TV Show in 2023: Star Trek: Discovery, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan

Favorite Book in 1973: Fiction:D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Non-fiction: The Battle for the Atlantic, by Jay White (1959)

I used to check this book out from the Tropical Elementary School library at least once a school year between third grade (which is where I was in 1973) till I was mainstreamed into regular classes during the 1975-1976 school year. I was held back for a while; I not only had to learn English, but I had a few other learning-related issues that required time and patience to address.

Favorite Book in 2023: Fiction: 11/22/63, by Stephen King (2011); Non-fiction: Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War, 1945-1960, by James D. Hornfischer

(C) 2022 Bantam Books

Favorite Game in 1973: Checkers, Battleship

Favorite Game in 2023: Regiments, Cold Waters, Leap of Faith, Crusade in Europe

Favorite Movie in 1973: Charlotte’s Web, Westworld[1]

Favorite Movie in 2023: West Side Story (2021)

Girlfriend/Significant Other in 1973? Yes

Girlfriend/Significant Other in 2023? No.

Parents Alive in 1973? My mom was. Dad had died eight years earlier.

Parents Alive in 2023? No. Mom died on July 19, 2015.

Pre-Birthday Attitude in 1973? Excited and happy

Pre-Birthday Attitude in 2023? Glad I’m not dead – yet; otherwise, meh.

[1] I didn’t go to the movies frequently when I was 10, so I didn’t see The Sting or American Graffiti (my favorite films released in 1973) till they were either on broadcast TV or I bought them in home media. Conversely, I have not been to the movies since December of 2019, so any “favorite films” of the recent vintage were seen on home media.