It's okay not to "get it".

Sometimes things move so quickly that I have a hard time keeping up. I admit it. I am behind the times.  I confess that I have not followed Rap or any contemporary music for that matter.  I wouldn't recognize Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter if I were in line behind them at Walmart.  I even had to ask around to get the names of contemporary singers to mention in this blog. 

A case in point is the half-time show of the 2025 Super Bowl which was totally over my head. Thankfully my Granddaughter, who recently turned 14, (two days ago) was able to help me understand it. (Not really, but sort of.) She patiently asked if I noticed the geometric shapes of the stage and then explained that it was the same design as a PlayStation controller. (I've never seen a PlayStation controller, but I my think I know what she means.) Further she explained that the music was more than one song when I thought it was just one excessively long one.  She sighed in despair, but did not roll her eyes, when I told her that I didn't understand one single word, had never head of the Rapper himself, and I that I caught a couple of words that I recognized as English when the girl was singing.  She just looked at me patiently when I compared the "dancing" to Stomp only with no garbage cans. She mentioned something about the Rapper "dissing" another rapper.  Totally don't get it. Was too kerflummoxed to ask for an explanation. I would rather just put it all on a shelf somewhere and move on -- except for one thing. What were the letters on the rapper's jacket?  I watched the entire show trying to figure that out.  Should have asked my granddaughter about that. Bet she would know.

One last thing.  As I mentioned before, I am not comfortable with change, but I think it is important to note that sometimes I am okay with it -- if I think it is working in my favor and if it is fun to watch.  There are at least two sides to response to change. A case in point, on the positive side, is a President, older than I am, who has more energy than I  can imagine.  It's exhausting to even watch ... and... at the same time ... entertaining.  I think some people are uncomfortable with it because no one is used to anyone in Washington getting things done and now there is an entire team of go getters driven to improve American lives -- you know --people who are determined to be a positive force in making difficult situations better for the American people. American people are tired of big government, incompetence and dishonesty. This is a good change from that statue quo. 

Change is often very scary and not only for those who don't want their mistakes to surface, but also for all the innocent bystander (taxpayers in this case).  Three weeks in office and our world is changing very rapidly.  I think we better get used to the pace and maybe buy some popcorn. We also need to notice that there are more important things in the world than a Super Bowl half-time show.  It's okay if we don't get everything. 

Merry Christmas....

Have been reminiscing about Christmases past off and on for a while now. 'Tis the season. Not sure what triggered that, but had fun thinking about my Dad putting up lights -- definitely not his forte - or favorite pastime -- and about my Mom busy in the kitchen preparing all our family favorites from scratch ... for what seemed like days on end. Our home smelled so mouth-wateringly yummy! And then there was the wonder of the midnight church service on Christmas Eve. The candles were so welcoming.  Christmas is a season really -- weeks of special festivities -- all around exciting -- perhaps especially so for a child. 

I recalled the time I ruined my own Christmas when, after exhausting many possibilities, I discovered a hidden cache of presents tucked away on the high shelf in the hall closet.  I opened them all and then rewrapped them.  No surprises that year.  In fact it was an early dreading of having to wear the sweater that my mom had selected for me.  (We never did have the same taste in clothes.  She was a matching outfit sort of person with appropriate jewelry, and I was a jeans/sweatshirt person with appropriate socks. That was just the way it was.  It was okay. We came to respect each other's choices...eventually.)

Then came thoughts of the Sears Catalog -- the Wish Book.  Oh how I miss that catalog.  I used to go through it again and again -- wishing for this and that.  Then, after the holidays, I would cut special parts out and make a shoe box house with pictures of appliances and furniture.  Ah... the good olde days....  Bubble lights, wooden toys, good food, fires in the fireplace, falling asleep on the floor with my head on the family dog.  Ah Dutchess, you were a fine and patient dog.

Then came thoughts of not so fun wintery and holiday things  -- plastic bread bags on your feet to keep them dry in boots that always leaked, the constant smell of wet wool, as well as chapped lips and wrists. I particularly hated having to wear scratchy holiday dresses with short ouchy sleeves and bows that tied in the back. I thought, also, of breaking my wrist ice-skating in my new ice skates the day after Christmas.  That's what you get when showing off by grabbing onto the the end of a whip.  You skaters know what that is.  I was a stupid 8 year old at the time, but ...  I did get to go back to school after Christmas vacation with an impressive cast to show off...  so there was a plus side.  Ah youth... if only that were the only stupid thing I did....

Times have changed and do offer some positives.  Waterproof coats that are filled with goose down or a good substitute, clothes that are flexible and soft boots that do not leak, a veritable deluge of catalogs to browse through, improvements in food preparation that save time, ChapStick and longer sleeves/mittens .... I even learned not to grab on to the end of an ice-skating whip.  Sometimes change is a good thing.  Sometimes it is important for me to remember that.

Times also have changed though in the family who are present.  That is the way of life. These "changes" make all holidays times of mixed emotions -- deeply poignant. I want to remember all of that -- always. I want to remember that it is especially important to be kind during these times. It is a journey that we all share. We are all missing people we love. Perhaps this "missing" is especially hard at Holiday times.

I am thankful for memories of Christmases past and thankful, too, for the Christmases now and to come.  Merry Christmas! Let's hope we are all able to make some wonderful memories and especially --  to be a good part of memories for others.  

Is this party to whom I am speaking?

  

Sometimes I find myself thinking about all the amazing things my grandmothers observed in their lifetimes.  They went from horse and buggy to supersonic transport.  They went from outhouses to indoor plumbing, from washboards and clothes lines to automatic washers and dryers.  Impressive, right?  Oh, what would they think of today’s online shopping, take-out food and the availability of things in general? Almost forgot -- permanent press! The list could go on and on.

Then, for some unknown reason I skip over my parents’ generation to mine (they do overlap a bit after all) and realize that we, too, have made remarkable progress - lived through significant change.  Radio sort of evolved into those little round televisions able to get three staticky channels if you put enough aluminum foil on the rabbit ears and turned them the right way (my Uncle had one) … and our lives changed forever.  Technology went "feral" after that ... and we know where we are today -- caught within that blur. Also, let's not forget automobiles.... What happened to manual transmission, window vents and floor dimmer switches? Remember when we had rotary phones and dialed “0” for an Operator - a real person you could talk with? “One ringy-dingy... two ringy-dingy...." (Ernestine)  

Sometimes I feel that it is impossible to catch up with how fast the world is changing and so I don't even try and find myself using phrases like "phone photo" which makes total sense to a person who grew up with a Brownie in the family.  Kids these days would roll their eyes at that – actually I have seen some of them do that and have heard of other savvy young who have done that as well. (Love them anyway.)  “Why not just call it a photo, Nana?”  ("… because it is a phone photo; that’s why." There is a difference. Boomers understand this. Some day these kids will too when they are dealing with some "newfangled" invention.)

I guess each generation just has to deal with its own progress.  I wonder what it will be like for my grandchildren and on. I mean – what about the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence, vehicles that drive themselves or don't touch the ground... all sorts of “Meet George Jetson” things. Then there are the inventions that haven’t even been thought of yet. It's exhausting....  Each generation seems to be getting smarter and it is not just them who think so.

Actually, I am not going to give their future too much thought.  They will handle the changes.  Each generation has or has tired to ... or at least has managed to cope in some way.   Right now, I am just trying to figure out how to make a smooth transition from cable to streaming, from a skillet to an air-fryer, from a landline to a cell phone.  You know – from a pencil box to a keyboard.  Some days I do pretty well.  Other days?  Not so much. Plus – there is plenty of technology that I have decided to totally ignore.  I am okay with that … at least for now.  Come to think of it though -- I felt that way about microwave ovens, the Internet, online banking, and texting at one time and changed my mind about them, so… who knows? One thing I can say for certain -- you will not see me on a hoverboard. Call me chicken.  I will readily agree... no shame in that one. I fall well enough just using my own two feet. Did that yesterday as a matter of fact.  It was impressive -- especially the trying to get up gracefully part. Anyway -- call me old-fashioned... or maybe just plain getting old.  Either way -- both are okay with me.

 

Never been a fan of change....

 

I have never been a fan of change.  Seriously -- I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of direct distance dialing, cable TV, microwaves and VHS, let alone all the other things that seemed to come into being within seconds of one another.  Purchasing a PC almost put me into a state of mindless blithering. The Internet was a concept I simply could not grasp because no one could tell me where it was or what it looked like. (I still try to picture it.) Then there were the cell phone, WIFI and the repeated conversations with my children on whether or not I would text.  I didn’t see the value or potential in any of those things – at the time.  Now, of course, I can’t live without them and more new-fangled things as well. I have a self-starting generator that is able to and has run everything in my entire house. I store photographs on a cloud somewhere out there in the land of things I cannot put in a box. There is progress and … it is a very good thing I can laugh at myself.

On a more serious note --the past year and a half have been difficult for me even though my day-to-day life has not changed that drastically.  I am thinking that I am not alone in this.  In fact, I have had conversations with others important in my life about the feeling of being a bit off balance -- maybe, ironically, especially so now that the world is beginning to open up again in baby steps and all people begin to reenter a world that has forever been changed.  Always a homebody, I now am a bit agoraphobic. Not kidding.  I like to be home. Never a fan of driving anywhere, I have to make myself go places – always having a good time once I am there, but always ready to come home. It is comforting to listen to other people talk about similar experiences and about how interpersonal relationships with others – even family and friends -- have taken on new dimensions. We have a lot of adjusting to do for sure. I am writing this in case you are feeling alone in having such feelings.  You are not alone.

In 2001, America was stunned by 9-11 – an outright attack on our country. It changed things for all Americans in too many ways to name. Whether or not this pandemic will turn out to be an outright attack on the entire world or a devastating accident – I do not know. All I know is that it has brought change across the entire planet. With that change comes uncertainty and all the scary thoughts and questions that come with that.

At the same time, it is important to remember, though, that not all changes are so all encompassing – even though we share similar experiences with others.  We just don’t all go through these changes at the same time.  These more private changes are, perhaps, the most difficult to maneuver.  At times, and this has happened to each of us, something happens – in one moment perhaps – and Nothing is as it was before.  Nothing. Everything is changed -- forever. Suddenly you find yourself in a different world, and yet the rest of the world moves on as if nothing has happened. It’s surreal.  It is doubly hard when people have this kind of change in the middle of a pandemic.  I think this is why the world craves the feel-good story – the tale of a random act of kindness. I know that I am trying to hang on to those. I am grateful for them. Am thinking that you are too. Thank you for your positive response to last week’s Blog – "The Birthday Cake". Your kind words are a gift. You are a gift. That is one thing that will never change.