Time Flies!

I remember when I was a teenager-ish age, I asked my mom what it felt like to get old.  (And we wonder why some animals eat their offspring) I will never forget her answer.  She said "My body may look old to you, but in my mind I feel like I am still in college."

Fast forward 30 years.  I am now the age of my mother when I asked her that mind numbing question.  And now,  I know exactly how she feels.  Time flies.  Sometimes it flies by so fast, you hardly realize it.  Like when they announce it has been 30 years since Star Wars came out, or Donny Osmond is turning 55! Time cannot go by this quickly!  This realization hit me square in the face when I was watching TV with my teenager-ish daughter.  A preview for an upcoming Oprah show appeared before our eyes. It was a show that had originally aired in 1988 and they were spotlighting it, 22 years later.  In it, the people from a small town in West Virginia were irate because they had been in a swimming pool with a member of their community who had aids and they were all afraid of getting the dreaded disease. 

They were ridiculing the man to tears.  My daughter sat straight -up, her mouth wide open in astonishment.  I looked at her and said "What?"  She was incredulous! She was dumbfounded that anyone would believe you could get aids from sharing the same pool water.  And why on earth was that community so mean to him, pointing fingers at him and calling him names?  Suddenly I was thrust back 20 years ago when people were less tolerant of emo's, 'cutting' and Satan worshipers, and more afraid of a little known disease called HIV.  I tried to give details about how the world was 20 years ago, and the way of thinking that belonged to aids.  It wasn't easy.  As I tried explain, she stared at me in disbelief.  She couldn't understand. Words were inadequate.  I sighed in frustration.  I tried to explain how people got caught up in it.  Just like the O.J. Simpson trial.

"O.J. who?" She said. "What did he do?".  Oh ya!  I think that whole thing may have happened the year she was born!
Then I remembered the fear that had engulfed the nation when the year 2000 was upon us.  "Remember Y2K?"  I asked, "And how everyone was paranoid about their computers crashing?"

She shook her head no.
"Oh c'mon!"  I prodded.

Then I remembered she was only 8 years old at the time.

It was a much different world back then.

Because I have lived through the last 20 years, it didn't seem like things had changed THAT much. Maybe because it happened a little bit at a time. But then, compared to how things are today, I guess it's like the cigarette commercial says "You've come a long way baby" 

Yes - cigarette commercials used to be on TV.

Woops! I thinkI just dated myself!