My grandson has discovered “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the original cartoon version) and it quickly became a favorite. It’s not offered on the streaming service my daughter uses, so I offered to get him his very own copy. I went to my local Barnes and Noble because I knew it had a huge DVD section, including tons of selections for the holidays. Sadly, the key word turned out to be “had,” because when I arrived, all I saw was a big empty space where the DVDs and CDs used to be displayed.
I don’t know why I was surprised. I have heard that “no one uses DVD or CD players anymore,” so it stood to reason that stores were going to quit stocking them. And since I still have and use both devices, I guess that proves what I have long suspected: these days, I’m a nobody. That doesn’t particularly bother me, but thinking about the thousands of obsolete players and millions of useless DVDs and CDs destined for a landfill bothers me a lot.
When I first began using a digital camera, I kept the photo cards for all my pictures so I could always make more prints of them. Later, I learned to upload photos onto my computer, and then to the “cloud” for safe keeping. But my earlier digital photos are still stored on those little photo cards, and when I tried to upload them onto my new computer, I searched in vain for a slot to insert a photo card. Yes, I discovered I can buy an adapter that will help, but why in the world couldn’t the people who design new computers have simply included a slot for photo cards? If they had, I wouldn’t have to buy yet another gadget.
These days, we are constantly being urged to reuse and recycle as much as we possibly can, and with good reason. Wouldn’t it be nice if that applied to our tech devices as well? I understand that there will always be a “new and improved” version of everything we use, and that’s fine. But does making way for the new version always have to mean getting rid of the old? Yet all too often, that’s exactly what happens. A case in point being that my new computer is not only lacking a slot for my photo cards, but it also can’t seem to communicate with my (older, but still working) printer. So now I have to buy a new printer and figure out what to do with the old one.
I hate to admit it, but it does seem to me as if sometimes the old ways were a whole lot easier. My mother never worried about how she was going to store her photos, because she had a simple system: print them and stick them in a photo album. And even though they were taken many decades ago, I can still get out my baby photos and look at them any time I please, with no worries about compatibility, adapters or unnecessary waste. Apparently, back in 1958, they knew how make things last…….
I don’t know about you, but there’s a whole lot going on in my life right now that I never saw coming. Some of it is good and some of it is bad, but most of it was totally unexpected. I still remember how I used to look at our calendar early last year and worry about how we were possibly going to keep up with such a busy schedule of travel and events. Who knew the answer would be a virus that would force us to cancel them all? And I remember the cold stab of fear I felt when I heard that my daughter-in-law was being prepped for an emergency delivery six weeks before her due date. I had no way of knowing that the result would be a beautiful and perfectly healthy granddaughter who spent only two weeks in the hospital.
Which probably explains why, every once in a while, I don’t “act my age.” And the holidays are a perfect example of one of those times. I’ve always loved Christmas, and all of the decorating, baking, gift-giving and general cheerful chaos that it brings. My holiday decorations have long since passed the tasteful stage, and now look mostly as if the Christmas department at Sears exploded in my living room. And the basement family room is where I put out the truly tacky stuff…..
It helps to remember that the life we’re living today is the one that will be creating the memories of tomorrow. Like, say, sharing a meal in your new apartment with your favorite (if only) great-grandson….
I remembered that my daughter’s angel costume had been borrowed from church (one of the costumes used for the annual Christmas program), and I remembered how grateful I was that my son wanted to be a fireman two years in a row. I wasn’t one of those moms who enjoyed putting together elaborate costumes for my children, which also explains why my daughter’s ballerina costume in the second picture is nothing more than her dance class outfit with a shirt underneath the tutu to keep her warm.
My household is one of the few in America that still has a landline phone, without the benefit of caller ID, and I’m not ashamed to say that I actually like it (although I will get around to adding the caller ID eventually.) It works even when our power is out, and I never have to remember to charge it, the way I do my cell phone. And while I enjoy the convenience of my cell phone, I prefer to use it the “old-fashioned way” by using my hands, rather than my voice, to operate it. I find it very annoying to listen to someone speaking their text message: “We made it the cabin. Period. The weather is great. Exclamation point. Hope the fish are biting. Smiley face.” Seriously? That’s better than typing?
Is it just me, or is the world really changing so much faster than ever before? It seems that as soon as I master a new technology, it becomes obsolete. As soon as I learn the latest lingo, it is no longer used, and I barely have time to wrap my head around the latest tragedy in the news before it it is followed by another one, usually even more awful. I really don’t want to be one of those old people who is always saying, “things were so much better back in my day,” but there are times when I really do feel that way.
I was sorting through some old family photos the other day when I came across my favorite picture of my grandmother. She’s standing in the backyard of of her modest brick bungalow, dressed in her Sunday best, complete with hat, white gloves and one of those fox stoles that were so popular back in the fifties. She’s looking off into the distance, unsmiling, formal, and quietly dignified. Even though I remember her smiling easily and more often than not wearing a casual cotton “house dress” as she went about her daily chores, there’s something about this photo that really captures the true spirit of the woman I remember from my childhood.
But I would like to have known if she was happy spending her life at home, raising children and keeping house, or if she had other hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled? I wonder if she waited until she was almost thirty to marry (unusually old, in that time) because she was still needed to help her parents and siblings at home, or if she simply didn’t meet the right man until my grandfather came along. I even wonder about the silly, insignificant things, like why she prided herself on never drinking water with her meals, or where she got the idea that drinking white soda pop gave a person kidney stones. (She let us drink root beer, but not 7-Up.)
Muddling Through My Middle Age 