John Kitsco

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Yes, back in 1969 it was easy to be a free spirit. No obligations.
Just hop in the little volkswagon and drive. And drive. Soon
finding ourselves walking the streets of San Francisco. Having just read the book On the Road by Jack Kerouac. And being a
young poet. Yes, we searched the hills and valleys for the
beautiful people with flowers in their hair. Or perhaps we were
those people? I remember driving through a huge tree and
finding myself face to face with a gentleman in a small booth
asking for payment. My reaction was simply to back up all the
way back from where we started. Gosh, I was not about to pay
to drive through a giant redwood.  And the wine. Yes the wine.
We must have stopped and toured every winery in California.
Well, not quite. But quite a few. And laughed and giggled our
way as a tour guide explained the wine making process. We
were young, in love and time was not a consideration.  It was
a sudden moment of excitement that brought us here in the
first place. Those were hip times. Long hair and good music.
Looking for something, not knowing exactly what it was. But
it was creative, expressive, and the sort of thing that perhaps
you want to do when you are young.  No responsibility. No worry
about the next day or the next. Just two young people so in love
with big smiles, walking through San Francisco, with flowers in
our hair...

And if we found nothing else, we found ourselves. We loved
each other and the years have taken us to a time of becoming
 grandparents, having responsibility and no particular inclination
to want to sleep in another small volkswagon....

How precious the young years. Carefree. Informal. Different.
Hip. Cool. Loving.  And memories of
California....