On this, my 32nd birthday week, I am engaging in some good old fashioned “remember whens.” Over the last few years, it has become patently clear that I am no longer considered a youth. There have been lots of scary signs of my age, but one of them is when I interact with other adults, I usually peg them as older or younger than me. (You know you do it too…not necessarily on the forefront of your mind, but when meeting new people, you have a schema in your head, part of which is their age). I have been shocked when those I consider my same age or a little older are actually younger.
Maybe I feel so young because (as Marty frequently reminds me) I robbed the cradle and married someone 2 ½ years younger than me. Maybe it is because I am the youngest child. Maybe it is because I have a youthful spirit. Who knows? At any rate, I am now in the dichotomy of feeling young and old at the same time. Luckily, I am not at the point where I like fruitcake or have to wear a sweater when it is 70 degrees out, but I have been around the proverbial block.
So here are some of my “wow, I feel old because I remember when” moments:
I remember when:
-Floppy disks were actually floppy
- I was little (maybe around 5 or 6) and my mom got her first microwave for Christmas. It was a really big deal and we were all very excited. Did life really exist prior to microwaves? Apparently so, and I can remember it.
-In 6th grade, we had a unit in DOS computer programming. It took me about 4 months to enter enough commands to have the black screen appear to have a blue line at the bottom.
-I was riding in a friend’s car (in high school) and I was sooooooooo impressed that her car had BOTH a tape deck and a CD player.
-Movie nights at home were big and a novelty…not only would we rent a video, we would also rent a VCR. The VCR came in a huge padded box, similar looking to a pizza carrier.
-“I like big butts and I cannot lie” was THE most scandalous song ever, compared only to “I’m too sexy.”
-Our Apple IIGS computer was totally trendy. Bank Street writer was the word processing program, and The Print Shop was cutting edge in card and banner making technology. I made many a craft from the perforated edges torn from the computer paper.
-"TGIF" meant that you got to watch 2 hours of awesome (in retrospect, horribly cheesy) TV shows.
-Our first “cell phone” was a black box, roughly shoe box size. It plugged into the cigarette lighter in the car, and had 6 inch antennae that flipped up to get reception. The actual phone unit was the size of a home telephone, complete with spirally cord. Once I was lost with my mom in Denver, and we had to find a gas station so we could call and ask for directions. Later, about 10 miles past the gas station, we both realized that the very purpose of the big black box in the backseat was to prevent us from having to look for a pay phone at a gas station.
-My brother played an Atari, so the advent of “Duck Hunt” and “Super Mario Brothers” were amazingly advanced gaming programs.
Did I miss anything?
3 comments:
How about going over to Grandpa and Grandma's green house to catch a movie on the Disney Channel. They had the TV in the basement, complete with the cable box that had the actual push buttons on the top.
See the sad thing was is my mom's favorite song was "I like big butt's" followed closely by "I'm too sexy"...see, if you only understood my history you would have had more sympathy on me as your companion, I was involuntary corrupted.
-Just saying.
Our fave one to think about is cameras. Remember how we used to use FILM???? And take FILM to a store and WAIT 3 DAYS to SEE the pictures we took on print and have NO idea if any of the 24 you took would actually turn out?
Remember how we have A MILLION+ pics of our children b/c WE CAN w/ digital???!
My child says "I wanna see!" every time I snap a picture. He doesn't know a camera that doesn't give you an instant look.
Yep, old I tell you.
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