Wouldn't you know that the one year I decide to do a theme for Halloween costumes, Jack was still too sick to be Luke Skywalker on Friday? Princess Leia and Yoda had to go without him again like they did on Monday at the school's Fall Festival. It was a bummer on so many different levels. (A tangent: I tried to get Brookie to say, "Yoda, I am", but all she could do was "I, Oda" [I'm Yoda])
Speaking of the Fall Festival, Claire said that all of the adults knew who she was, but none of the children did. And, even when she told them she was Princess Leia, they did not know who Princess Leia was. What's the world coming to when kids don't know who Princess Leia is? It made me feel ancient.
Actually, that did not make me feel as old as this next example. One day I was telling my kids about how when I was a kid, often on Friday afternoons my whole elementary school would watch films in the auditorium. My kids looked at me and said, "Films?" They had no idea what I was talking about. No. Idea.
So, if you know who Princess Leia is and have ever watched films at school, you are . . . OLD. If you know who Messy Marvin is, if you ever wore parachute pants and danced to Footloose, if you spent Saturdays at roller rinks skating to Another One Bites The Dust, if you know what a "couples skate" is, if you ever had an Izod shirt that you wore with the collar flipped up, if you can sing the Big Mac song (2 All Beef Patties Special Sauce Lettuce Cheese Pickles Onions on a Sesame Seed Bun), if you have ever shopped at a TG&Y, if you know who Hurdle the Attack Turtle was (had to live in Ardmore for that one), if you had a stereo with a record player and tape cassette player, if you remember getting your first CD, if you remember the first VCR your family bought, if you remember when chewing gum was a major offense in school, if you know who Smurfette was (LAH-LAH-la-la-la-LAH . . .), if you ever watched Hee Haw, if you ever cried when you watched E.T. in a movie theater, if you remember what it means to "get licks" at school (when all teachers had paddles and used them), if you remember when they still had "Christmas" parties at school (instead of Winter parties), if you know what a WalkMan is, if you ever wore Jams and O.P. shirts, if you ever called flip-flops, "thongs", if you know what a typewriter is, if you remember when the "PG-13" rating was introduced, if you know who the" stay-puft" marshmallow man is, if you know "We Are The World" by heart (there's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives, it's true we make a brighter day, just you and me), if you ever wanted suspenders like Mork's, if you know who the Karate Kid is, if you remember when pagers were a big deal (Beepers, baby), if the Beastie Boys ever helped you "fight for your right to paaarrrrr-teh", if you remember when they made after-school specials about mono, if you know what an after-school special is, if you remember when kids played with Rubix Cubes (sp?) at recess, if you remember when it was cool to have a mullet, if you can do the moonwalk, the Bobby Brown, and the Roger Rabbit, if you remember when the word "text" was usually used as a noun (not a verb), if you remember the original, "Help, I've Fallen and I can't get up" commercial, if you ever wondered who shot J.R., if you remember when floppy disks were the size of a sandwich (come to think of it, do floppy disks even exist anymore?), if you remember Air-Jordans, if you ever had a collection of twist-a-beads, if you remember where you were when the Challenger blew up (Mrs. Piersons science class), if you ever used "Stiff Stuff" to achieve great bangs, if you ever listened to Prince and thought 1999 was a long time away . . .
okay, if you understood most of that paragraph then you are definitely OLD.
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4 comments:
Well, I am officially old too because I understand every bit of that! Worse is that I still call my flip flops "thongs"!
Just a few months ago while at the $1 store, I bought Dawson a rubik's cube for fun. He liked it, but not for long (not even a day). I remember playing with that thing forever!!!
Thanks for the fun memories.
so fun. i guess i am only partially old because i only knew about half! :)
I'm amazed at the mental acuity to remember all those things! It's amazing how each of those things recall specific situations in the mind that you associate with either joy or somberness.
Having reconnected with you recently, the skating is absolutely hilarious. I remember when the skates hat four wheels like a car, instead of four wheels inline. I remember changing directions, blowing out the knees in my jeans from sliding on the floor, and the messiest nachos ever from the snack bar.
Your blog is awesome, keep on cranking out the text (used as a noun).
Michael
ok who wouldn't want to wear parachute pants and dance to Footloose i mean come on rubiks cubes are STILL a 'in' thing and if i could roller skate to 'another one bites the dust' I WOULD that is what i woud call THE BEST DAY EVER!
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