The Recalcitrant Planner

I thought that I'd served on enough city advisory boards over the years and resigned from everything a dozen or so years ago. Amongst others I'd been on the charter review board the last time the city charter was revised, and was vice-chair of the planning comission for a bunch of years. I used the excuse that my mom had just passed away and I needed some time. It was relaxing, a relief, to not have to go to all those damned meetings. I came up with a plan!

I stopped wearing suits and ties, grew a beard, stopped getting my hair neatly trimmed every other week, and started to look like an older version of the faded blue jeans clad hippie freak photographer that I'd once been. It felt good! But it didn't work! When my friend Scott Galvin was elected to the city council a few years ago my protests were for naught. Suddenly I was on the Disaster Preparedness Board, The Board ofAdjustment, a founding member of the North Miami Historical Society, attending Chamber of Commerce luncheons, and on and on.

I didn't give up easily though. I still kept dressing like that Old Hippie, or as my ex puts it, "You look like a homeless street person!" It didn't seem to matter. It only made it easier for people to recognize me. The new city manager, the new police chief, the new everybody around city hall would introduce themselves to me. I had to tell them that it was cool to call me "Al", Mr. Kaplan was too formal.

Last month I put on this suit to attend a board meeting, just as a goof. This morning I sent an Email to Scott announcing that I'd rummaged through my closets and found a number of suits, dress shirts, neckties, and lace-up dress shoes just waiting to see the light of day again. I'm going to start dressing up properly once again.

Now all the guys my age will have something else to be jealous of besides my hair. I can still fit into the same suits I wore twenty or thirty years ago! All I need now is a twenty-five year old girlfriend.