Memory Lane Monday

Lately I've been reminiscing about the world of my youth. It's interesting what people remember. When I was in college (the first time I was around a lot of people of different ages) one of the things we always talked about was "Where were you when JFK was killed?" Tragic events tend to cement themselves in our memories, and that was certainly one of them.

That day in 1963 symbolized the loss of innocence for America. It was also a day so powerful that it seems that everyone knows exactly what they were doing when they heard the news. So, in college, the questions you asked were "what is your major?" and "where were you when JFK died?"

I've realized lately that close to half of the country wasn't even alive then.

Then we watched a show about the first man on the moon. The man I married and I were talking to the children about our memories of that day. As they watched the show they commented on the poor quality of the pictures and the low tech look of the space capsules. We remembered how amazing the whole thing was - how entire families were glued to their little black and white tv sets - and all the kids could say was that the IMAX space station film was so much better.

My kids have joked about how dinosaurs were probably around when we were kids, but they really do have a hard time believing that tv wasn't always in color. Or that we only had a few stations. When we tried to get the kids to get excited about the Tournament of Roses parade, they said that it was boring!

But there's hope! For generations little boys have bonded over baseball stats, and that continues. The smiling child has taken a liking to baseball (we have a local AAA team) and often rattles off the stats for players. He also has the wonderful luck to be able to watch players move up to the "show" after he's seen them play and gotten their autographs.

This somehow gives me hope for America. We'll keep boring our children with memories of the past and rewarding them for their feigned interest with homemade ice cream. Nothing is as bad as it seems when you're eating fresh from the bucket ice cream on a warm summer evening.