I turned 56 this week. This, once upon a time, was considered a venerable age, especially when life spans 30 years ago were only about 68 years. The average life span in the U.S. is now 78 years. Long enough to see our childhood treasures end up on the shelves of collectible shops. The furniture we jumped up and down on as kids (and got our behinds swatted for it) now grace the shop showroom floors. The toys mom threw away because they were old are now in high demand (gee thanks Mom, that was my first $1.0M you so blithely tossed in the dust bin). My grandparents did not ever get to see this phenomena. My parents are just barely getting to see it. But, its in MY face. Each and every day. Thanks to the popularity of collecting vintage and antique items (and yes, I am a collector too).
Gives pause for thought. About how my generation is the last generation that can possibly bear living witness to the Victorian/Flapper/Hollywood eras. I was lucky enough to know people who lived during those times. I was able, as a young girl, to visit their homes and hear their stories. Some of them were relatives, like my father’s mother who was a Flapper. Or my grandmother’s Aunt who had a home that was filled to the ceiling joists with all things Victorian.
I remember myself as a young child wearing gloves, hats, crinolines and curtseying to my elders. I can remember the adults huddling in dark closets changing the film in their cameras because to do it in the light would ruin the film. I also remember a world before the polio and measles vaccines. My first polio vaccine was given to me in a sugar cube. I was too young to understand the concept but I did know that I loved eating that sugar cube and was excited every time I had to get one! And, yes, I caught all of those diseases like the measles and chicken pox that are pretty much non-existent in this day and age.
My generation is also the last generation that will be able to say things like “we had no computers, no twitter, no facebook”. The only webs we knew about were woven by spiders. At best we can say that we watched the technology revolution take over the world, but, for many of us, we cannot claim to have helped it along. Our telephones had rotary dials and our televisions did not come cable ready. We watched Neil Armstong walk on the moon on television sets that had screens smaller than today’s average computer monitor. Recipes were written out longhand and everyone wrote letters and thank you notes.
My granddaughter, Raven, and I once spent a lazy Sunday afternoon visiting collectible and antique shops. She spied a large black rotary dial telephone and said “Granny, what IS that?!” “That’s a telephone.” “WHAT?! How does it work? Where are the buttons?!”. After ten minutes of explanation and demonstration, she still looked dubiously at that telephone. She just could not grasp the concept. After all, she has no context. All the telephones in her life from the day she was born have been cell phones. Her telephone magically dials the numbers for her and she can use it just about anywhere. She does not have to memorize a telephone number and she is not attached to a wall.
Its the context. You can read all about the past, but unless you have “lived it” you really have no context. Every generation has its own “I remember when” stories and every generation always will. But I believe that my generation is the first generation to have lived long enough to find their childhoods tagged as “vintage” and “collectible” and put on a shelf for a younger generation to buy. Have mercy on us when those items can be tagged “antique”. Many of us will STILL be around.
I will close with one of my most favorite moments with Raven when she was 10 years old. We were watching an old black and white TV series, when Raven turned to me and asked “Granny, when did the world turn color?”. Can you imagine? She was quite serious as she has not known anything other than color television, color photographs, color movies, etc. Seeing my old black and white photographs and watching my old black and white classic movies, why, to her my world must have been horribly dim and gray until someone threw a switch and suddenly we had color!
I could almost hear her thinking, “What a wondrous day that must have been”.
Tranifer said:
As I said earlier on IYF, I am an old curmudgeon stuck in a young body. I know it is trendy and hip to say someone has an “old soul” but I’m pretty sure it was just my upbringing.
I was homeschooled, lived in the middle of nowhere, and didn’t really know or socialize with many kids my own age. In fact, most of the people I would spend time with were 35-70, simply because they were who my parents spent time with.
I played with sticks and dirt (and even ate my fair share of well… sticks and dirt), walked to the creek and made a fishing pole out of a stick and string. Raised my own sheep and chickens. Had a pumpkin patch. Did chores. You know, all that fun kid stuff. And though we got a crappy old Macintosh computer when I was very young (probably 4 or 5?) I remember when my parents brought it home, and I thought it was magical.
Pretty much grew up on black and white television, though we had a color TV, stuff from the “good old days” was all I really knew for a long time. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and the original Shaggy Dog were my favs.
Also, for whatever reason (probably because my parents were cheap) everything I grew up with was classy and “old”. All I had was a rotary phone (identical to the one in the picture) and if I did ever have a friend over, and they needed to call home, I always had to dial the number for them. We had a beautiful victorian era sofa that was made of velvet with elegant oak arms and legs. I had to mow the lawn with one of those pain in the butt push mowers (you know, the ones that were just a round wheel of blades that hardly did anything). The bathtub we have is older than both my parents (who are older than you). Beautiful and clawed. Oh, and my record player. I loved my record player. And somewhere around here is one of my great grandmother’s flapper outfits (she wasn’t a flapper, but she liked to dress up as one and go out on the town. Sad I never got to meet her).
Seriously, modern stuff weirded me out as a kid, still does sometimes. My two best friends are a couple in their 60’s, and they always make fun of me because our childhoods were so similar, despite the 40+ year age difference.
Love the article Deb, it makes me so nostalgic and miss simpler times. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Tranifer said:
Sorry, didn’t mean to come onto your blog and post a novel, your post just really touched me and I figured I’d share as well. Thanks again, you da bomb!
twistedpixelstudio said:
Tranifer, its a precious moment when you find a young person who truly can identify. I do believe people can have old soul in young bodies. And there is nothing wrong with that at all. It can be magical. Thanks for sharing. I love your comment!!
kkmarie said:
Deb, you have brought back a lot of memories ~ I am nearly your age; a feisty 47 and I remember hiding in the nook between the outer and inner doors on the phone with the cord stretched to the hilt! Got in trouble but a teen needs her privacy! LOL Well done, my friend, you old bat! hahaha…. wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful….
Lisa said:
Happy Birthday Debbi! I enjoyed this post very much. I still own the couch I grew up with. My parents got it in the mid 50’s and it was recovered red plaid in the 70’s. I posted a photo on FB this evening, of me and the cat stretched out on the old couch. It is amazing how it has held up.
MegansBeadedDesigns said:
Great post! It is so daunting to think that we are the last to know what the world is like without the instant gratification brought to us by the internet.
Old movies/TV are still so much better than most new ones. Perhaps when the film maker in hollywood get over what new special effects they can create, they’ll get back to telling great stories. 🙂
Bailey15 said:
Oh the tales we could tell (and many we shouldn’t because our mom is watching). My biggest laugh was when we ressurrected the turntable. My son exclaimed “wow that’s a big CD”. Now when we bring up the past both just say “oh that was when the Bible was being written”.
CreativeWoodcraftOnEtsy said:
Great post Debbi!
Happy birthday!!!