Things you do when you’re young and stupid
- col-teri-stein
- January 11, 2025
- 593
We have been enjoying the snowy scenery so far this winter, mostly from inside the house, but it brought up an interesting conversation on stupid stuff we did when we were younger. This is stuff we would not do now — no way, no how. But we lived through it, and now it makes for some wonderful if not questionable memories.
The first stupid thing that came to mind is a trip from New Philadelphia to Cleveland to go to the Sports Show. At the time the Sports Show was the biggest thing in outdoor sports to happen in our world each year. They covered fishing, hiking, hunting, camping, travel and a whole lot of other fun outdoor stuff.
There was so much to see. Popular television anglers, like Al Lindner, would give seminars. There were shows and entertainment, and there was even an indoor fishing tank. Everyone went to the Sports Show. One time we saw former Cleveland Browns player Doug Dieken in the parking lot.
Another time I ran into, literally ran into, a popular Brown’s linebacker. When I realized I had bumped into someone, I looked up and up and up. It was Eddie Johnson; I recognized him immediately. Even though his nickname was “The Assassin,” he was very nice and touched me on the shoulder while saying hello and excusing himself, even though it was my fault. As a big Browns fan, I was giddy with excitement.
(Let’s not talk about the most recent Browns’ season. We’ll get them next year. Or maybe in five years?)
Since we were working, and work can really put a crimp in your life, we would usually drive up on Saturday in the morning and spend the entire day there, even eating the expensive but not that tasty food for lunch.
It was winter — not sure of the year — and a huge snowstorm was threatening our annual Sports Show trip. It was snowing all the way from New Philadelphia to Cleveland, and it could have made for a dire year of missing the Sports Show, but we had one important thing on our side — we were young and stupid.
No one ever thought they were young and stupid at the time. It’s only with age and the realization you are not invincible that you know for a fact you were once young and stupid.
There was already about 4 inches of snow on the road, and the new snow was falling in thick, huge flakes that quickly added to the accumulation on I-77. There were a few snowy tracks on the road to follow, and we finally made it to Canton in the longest time it’s ever taken us to get to Canton.
My husband, or more likely boyfriend at the time, Joe was fearless, a byproduct of being young and stupid, and I was in full support of the plan, which proved I was young and stupid. We weren’t canceling the trip. That would be crazy. We decided to pull off at Belden Village Mall, kill some time and wait for the conditions on I-77 to improve.
Miraculously, that plan worked. An hour or so later, there were now darker tire tracks to follow, and the road was a bit more slushy than snowy. We continued on our way to Cleveland, went to the Sports Show, the storm subsided and we had a safe trip home.
Never again.
Now that we are retired, every day is like a snow day. I still check snow day cancellations to see what is closed, but it doesn’t matter as much because my schedule is extremely flexible, especially if we have plans of our own.
Yesterday Joe asked me what day in the next few weeks I wanted to take a trip to our favorite out-of-town restaurant, which is about three hours away.
“That sounds good,” I replied to his suggestion as a now much older and wiser person. “But it all depends on the weather.”
Joe was in full agreement.
Happy New Year everyone and drive safe out there, especially in the snow.