Remembering a Brief Moment in Camelot

Remembering a Brief Moment in Camelot
Which Was Lost in Time

Last week, I wrote about Ginger and our close relationship. Additionally, I mentioned my failure with past relationships with women but not with Ginger, my Irish Setter. As I honestly pined away about my failure rate regarding women, it reminded me of Rick and Ilsa and Casablanca. The film was release on Thanksgiving Day of 1942. I was born on January 20, 1943. In many ways, the movie and I have shared the good and bad times of our lifetime together. I have watched Casablanca many times over the years, but this scene haunts me personally to this day.

It is a great scene as Sam and Ilsa argue over her wanting him to sing As Time Goes By. Finally, Ilsa subtly convinced him, “Play it Sam. Play As Time Goes By.”

Play it sam.

Additionally, that is a poignant scene for me personally. It reminds me about dealing with what might have been but never was in my past relationships. That is true generally about all my past relationships, but it crashes down upon me when it comes to one particular failed attempt.

After Sam finishes singing, Victor and Louie join Rick and Ilsa for a drink. It is an interesting conversation between the four major characters in the movie.

Rick, Louie, Victor, and Ilsa

Rick praises Victor for his work against the Nazis to which he replies, “I try.” Rick’s quick comeback is “We all try. You succeed.” That brief retort is a statement about me. I have tried, but I have not succeeded.

So, what difference does it make that I failed? I can’t resurrect the past. Those chapters are from a time that is passed. Why am I haunted with what I wished to have obtained but wasn’t able to achieve?

However, I paid a high price due to failing, and so did she. So, my wanting to have dinner with a lost love is an attempt at saying that I am sorry. It won’t address the pain; it will merely acknowledge it. Since those days long ago, I have danced with death twice. I know my clock is ticking. Therefore, I want to address issues before it is too late. It is getting things in order. I’d like to have dinner with this lady and to talk about times past that never evolved into what I had wished. Nonetheless, there were the good times long ago. And it will be fun remembering a time when we experience one shining moment of Camelot.

Camelot

What you have read is several hundred words of an old man remembering what once was. So what? What can you gain from this essay? I can caution you not to make mistakes, but that won’t have any impact upon you. It wouldn’t have changed me decades ago. Nonetheless, remember the good times, brief as they might have been.

This is Willie Nelson’s musical spin on the good times of the past….

Remember the good times
They're smaller in number
And easier to recall
Don't spend too much time
On the bad times
They're staggering in number
And will be heavy

As lead on your mind

Don't waste a moment unhappy
Invaluable moments gone
With the leakage of time
As we leave on
Our own separate journeys
Moving west with the sun
To a place buried deep

Within our minds

Remember the good times
They're smaller in number
And easier to recall
Don't spend too much time
On the bad times
They're staggering in number
And will be heavy
As lead on your mind