So I've been thinking back on my life and all that's changed. When I was born Watergate was making the news and gas was .36 cents a gallon. Children didn't need car seats, putting a baby to bed on his/her tummy was just fine, and we slept in cribs that are now considered unsafe. I could walk half a mile down the road to visit a local convenience store with a friend, baby dolls in tow, and never felt unsafe and our parents were "ok" with it. A neighbor could call me down and garner as much fear and respect as my own parents. I ran the neighborhood until dark and my mother's yell was my call to come in.
I didn't have video games and my phone had a cord. LOL I had Donnie and Marie dolls, a Bionic Woman doll and thought roller skating was a perfect way to spend a Friday night in elementary school. I played on donated giant construction machine tires, and culverts on my schools playground and the monkey bars were not forbidden, even if Tommy had fallen and broken his arm on them the other week. I went to church every time the doors were open. I got spankings and switched when I had made the wrong behavior choices or mouthed off. My grandmother gave me a teaspoon of paregoric liquid with a spoonful of sugar when I had a tummy ache, and warmed sweet oil to pour in my ears when I had an ear infection. I got rubbed down with Vicks salve when I had a cold. Everything was decorated in wood paneling, pea green and various shades of unattractive orange. Shag carpeting was everywhere (even in some vans) and some version of plaid was popular from shirts to couch upholstery. I remember feeling rich when we could afford a microwave (it was HUGE back then btw), and my first radio contest win was for free tickets to see the original "Footloose" and a case of Snapple.
My favorite memories are of watching shows through the week with my mom snuggled up in our bed with our little tv that actually had a remote! I grew up watching the Brady Bunch, Captain Kangaroo, The 6 Million Dollar Man, the Bionic Woman, The Dolly Parton Show, The Rockford Files (James Garner was my first crush or so my mother tells me) and Hollywood Squares. They ran Dark Shadow's every afternoon when I got home from school. I thought the Dukes of Hazard were awesome. The Greatest American Hero was funny and everyone hung on breathlessly all summer to find who shot JR. LOL I remember hearing Walter Cronkrite sign off the news every night; "...And that's the way it is..." I'd like to see more of his dignity and unbiased reporting today.
I remember when it used to "really" snow in the winter in Knoxville. I remember going to a small grocery store with wooden floors and my mom actually asking a butcher for meats. I remember when my community only had one red light.
Times have changed, some things are for the good like many diseases are nearly gone, and some for worse, we never seem to have a minute to sit and just be lazy anymore. Our kids sit across from each other texting instead of engaging in a real conversation and they never seem to get to be kids anymore. We can't offer them the freedom to wander the neighborhood and create their own adventures like we did and they'd rather sit entranced in front of some technology rather than go outside anyway. We can communicate across the world with a key stroke, but we don't know our next door neighbor's first name. I am thankful for our technology and appreciate the conveniences, but sometimes I think it would be nice for shops to close at 7:00pm and be closed on Sundays at least for a little while. We don't have to always "need" something right and it would be nice to spend an afternoon talking on the front porch swing.
So at 40 I'm trying to schedule in a little more down time and silly time with my son. I'm repainting the expectations in my head or what a happy life looks like and forgiving myself for not having a spotless house and being great country cook. I'm turning toward more time disconnected from technology (once I post this of course) and seeking out experiences with friends and family. So happy birthday to me and here's to 40 more, may I be wiser than I was in the last 40 and may God help me make them meaningful.
