Reliving Your Youth Can Be Fun

My niece wanted to go to a Temptations concert near where I live, so she and her son drove down from Oklahoma to spend the night. She wanted me to go too so, of course, I did. I pictured what I had seen on TV clips of old shows the group had done. They were so classy and smooth and harmonized so well. I remembered one of their big hits was “My Girl.” After the lights went down, four gentlemen in white tuxes, the long kind with tails, strolled out on the stage. Though their harmonizing was wonderful, they were a livelier version of the Temptations—more energetic dancing, louder music, flashing lights. I thought, well, sure, these aren’t the original group. They would have been too old by now. My niece’s son and his friend who drove down to join us were probably the youngest people in the audience, but age didn’t keep the crowd from clapping and singing along. When they sang “My Girl,” the crowd got louder, standing and dancing to the music too. Reliving your youth can be fun!  Then we learned one of the fellows on stage was a member of the original group. Though he had to be close to 80, he was getting down just like the rest of them. Way to go, Otis! An inspiration for us all.