For All Those Born Before 1945

We are survivors!!! Consider the changes we have witnessed. We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, XEROX, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pins, before pantyhose, dishwashers, cloths dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes - and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?) In our time closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeannie, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins. We were before house-husbands, gay rights, computer dating; dual careers and commuter marriages.

We were before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters; word processors, yogurt, and guys wearing earrings. For us, time sharing meant togetherness - not computers or condominiums, a "Chip" meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word. In 1940, "Made In Japan" meant JUNK and the term "Making Out" referred to how you did on your exams. Pizzas, "McDonalds" and instant coffee were unheard of.

We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 cent stores, and where you bought things for five and 10 cents. Saunders or Wilson sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime. For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter AND two postcards. A cocktail was a quarter and a beer was a dime at the Drift-On-Inn Roadhouse on the way to Playland Amusement Park on Old 99. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one; a pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon!

In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, GRASS was mowed, COKE was a cold drink and POT was something you cooked in and Rock Music was a grandma's lullaby. We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change, we made do with what we had! And we were the last generation that was so dumb to think you needed a husband to have a baby!

No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap today! But we survived!!! What better reason to Celebrate??