 navymomgr
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General
375 points
49/F/Raleigh, North Carolina
Join Date: Jun 2008 |
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Well, it's my birthday, and here I am one year older. This is my last year before I've lived half a century. So here are some memories.
I remember when the first family in our neighborhood got a color TV. Everyone had to go to their house to see it. I was about 6 years old and it was the first time that I learned that Popeye and Olive Oyl actually wore red and blue clothes. I always thought they wore gray.
I remember buying my first calculator in 1975. It was about 4 by 5 inches and it would add, subtract, multiply, divide and do percentages. I saved for it for months and it cost $160. Now they're 1/4 the size and you get them free when you buy a wallet!
I remember buying gas for 35 cents per gallon and thinking it was terribly expensive.
I remember cars that got 10 miles per gallon and no one cared.
I remember taking computer courses in college. No such thing as windows! If you wanted to run a computer program, you had to write it first. Computer courses consisted of learning computer languages. I took Basic, Cobol, and Fortran. There was one computer game and it was all typed out. It was about an elf making his way throught tunnels and you had to read the actions, like "The elf sees a sword on a rock" and type in what you wanted the elf to do "Pick up sword" Internet? What's that?
I remember when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and my teachers took us to the auditorium so that we could watch it on TV.
I remember getting married at 23 years old and people telling me it was about time. They thought I was going to be an 'old maid' forever.
I remember when the first video game (Pong) came out- it was the hottest thing around!
I remember when waterbeds were an adventure.
I remember when divorce was disgraceful and you stayed married no matter what.
I remember Flash Gordon, I Love Lucy, The Bevely Hillbillies, Leave It To Beaver, and Lawrence Welk (my grandmother's favorite show)
I remember when kids spent their time playing outside. Making string houses and mud pies with my cousin Amy. Taking tobacco sticks into the cornfields in the Fall and knocking the cornstalks down because we were pretending they were Indians.
I remember nucear bomb drills.
I remember crying because I didn't get miniskirt and go-go boots from Santa Claus.
I remember my Grandfather leaving the fields every day at 4:15 so that he could be at the house to greet my Grandmother and give her a kiss when she got home from work. (where are the men like that now?)
I remember my brother's teasing when we were young and his protectiveness when we got older. I still miss him after 30 years.
I remember my Grandmoter's hands, because I see them every time I look at my own hands.
I remember the birth of each of my sons and my wonder the first time I held them in my arms. I stil feel that wonder every time they call me 'Mom'.
I remember happiness, sadness, ectasy, despair, innocence, knowing, loving, hating, laughing, crying, good friends, enemies, family, all the good and bad that goes with 49 years of life. And you know something? Life has been good. Yes, there are some things I would change if I could- my brother's death, the years I spent in depression among others, but for the most part, I wouldn't want to change much of my life. I've learned from my mistakes and from the people in my life.
I wonder what changes the next 49 years hold?
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RobbyF
Über Master Debater
7975 points | wonderful wonderful writing! I love hearing stuff like this! My Grandpa just visited, he is in his 80s. He was telling me about his first car, a used Ford model T that cost 10.00  . about the botom of his friends car catching on fire from the exhaust because the floor board was litteraly a wood board! He is also a bit of a pack rat. While he was there I exchanged some craftsman tools I had broken (lifetime warrarnty!!  ) And he told me about one he had that was broken..... but he broke it in 1943 |
navymomgr
General
375 points | Thanks, Robby! I guess I was feeling nostalgic last night.  It just amazes me how much things have changed in my lifetime. I imagine in 49 more years, everyone will be riding around in those 'air cars' like the Jetsons. But what I'd really like is one of those machines they had that pops you out of bed, brushes your teeth, showers you, does your hair, puts on your makeup, dresses you, then pops you out at the other end with a cup of coffee. I'd buy one of those in a second!  |
RobbyF
Über Master Debater
7975 points | | LoL yeah that would be worth whatever the price would be. I'm 25 and even I feel like a lot has changed in my life time. It's exciting and scary at the same time to think about where we will be 50 years from now. |
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49 Years of 'Stuff"
