Robert Darmody:  

Life Life begins at 59. Hey, better late than married... Actually, it isn't late at all. The new, broader horizon only makes it seem so. As tough and unpredictable as life has been at times, I wouldn't trade it for an erstwhile future of riding to a job every morning on the 'L', reading a tightly folded Sun Times, trudging through the snow and sitting next to a lake for a couple of weeks a year.(calling it 'vacation') Early half of life - in the Army at 17, having a child born the same year, living like a gypsy around the country with three kids in tow and doing everything for a legal buck from selling blood to casual labor. Ascending to the exhalted role of waiter and bartender was quite a socio-economic jump. Second half of life began with move to Palm Springs California. In itself this was a huge and fortuitous jump. Life here began with a job in what was and still is, the best restaurant in town. That is, if evaluated on the basisof clientele. I've been exposed to life in so many ways that would have been entirely missed by staying in Chicago and toiling away at a 'job.' My parents, like so many of their generation, were grateful for and contented with a job to toil away at and ultimately retire from. While fetching bread and making cocktails by night, I've pursued other day careers to include: Modeling, Singing, Electrical Sign Sales and Design, Graphic Design. As interest related activities: Collecting recordings from the early 20th. Century and the study of that era of American Popular Music. In the course of many...Expand for more