It's My Birthday!

Oh yes, oh yes! That's lil' ol' me! I don't look very happy do I?

This is a bit of a re-post from 2010.

"Lucky to be alive".

It's just a commentary on how times have changed and how someone of the ripe old age of 51 (did I type that?) is lucky to be around considering all the shenanigans we got into as kids and considering all the new fangled safety devices that are around to protect our children today.

As a child:
We never wore seat belts. Not required. Most cars didn't have them. And us kids fought over the front seat. The most unsafe spot in the car for a child!
We never wore bicycle helmets. What helmet?.
We never had any anti-bacterial soaps or cleaners.
We never had hand sanitizer.
We drank tap water without a second thought.
We drank from the garden hose all summer long. Every summer!
We ran wild through the neighborhood, or the next few over and our parents were none the wiser as long as we were home on time for lunch and dinner.
We trick-or-treated by ourselves and ate most of our candy before we got home.
We used insect repellent products containing 100% Deet or some more deadly carcinogen.
Rambunctious toddlers ran loose and our parents didn't have a care in the world. There were no toddler leashes or GPS Nanny Devices. Speaking of nannies, we didn't have nannies or governesses unless we were British royalty or our names were von Trapp.
We didn't have to worry about "R" rated movies. There were either movies everyone could watch, or XXX movies. And us kids didn't know about those, unless we had some pretty cool teenage friends.
We raced on our bicycles chasing the ice cream truck like starving orphans, without any regard to other vehicular traffic. And it came every single summer day.
Mr. Rogers was our neighbor and he came into our living rooms every day and no one thought that was the slightest bit odd, this kind of man-child who played with puppets and trolleys in the neighborhood of make-believe.
If our parents were smokers, they smoked literally everywhere. At fast food restaurants, bars, grocery stores, airplanes. Just about anywhere but church. There was no consideration for secondhand smoke. It was smoke em if ya got em.
There was no stranger danger.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint and the space between the rails was dangerously large enough for us to get our heads or even or bodies stuck in.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets.
Toys were painted with lead paint and had dangerously sharp edges. Recalls were unheard of.
We spent hours at construction sites, watching the big equipment from close-up.
If we got hurt at a friend's house or at school, there were no lawsuits. They were accidents and no one was at fault!
We drank Fresca and Tab with saccharine and cyclamates.
We didn't have computers and a television in our rooms. We had Commodore 64 (if we were really lucky) and the lone television in the family room. (Color, if we were lucky.)
We did not have PSP's, Nintendo DS's, Game Boys, Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, Wii's, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, Blueray movies, DVD movies, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Iphones, Droids, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms, Facebook ... we had... friends.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were guaranteed! If we broke a law, our parents were on the side of law enforcement!

Think of it.

How is it we survived? And how did so many of us survive?

I'm so glad you did, so you can join me in celebrating my birthday!

Thank you for stopping by.

Today being a weekday I worked, but not before a mandatory trip to the DMV.  Yes, I know, you feel for me, don't you?  It was actually a quick and pleasant trip.  Every DMV worker wished me Happy Birthday (so if you're ever having a bum birthday, just go to the DMV to renew your license).  I got my Renewal Notice ages ago, but things have been so crazed here that I literally did not have time to peruse the rule book until Sunday night, planning on going the next day.  Ah...no.  Closed on Mondays.  I arrived shortly after opening.  No line, got my number and didn't even have a chance to take a seat before it was up on the number board.  Vision test, pay the cashier, then (dun dun dun...) the test.  I was really kind of sweating it because even though I have 2 teens, I really didn't know the new rules for teens.  So?  Did I pass?  Yup!  Got 100% of the signs correct, 3 wrong on the multiple guess.  And yes...my new driver's license photo sux!  I liked my last one.  Can't I have that one?

I came home to a wonderful homemade dinner of bbq'd pork chops and potatoes.  And...carrot cake and Gluten Free Chocolate Cake for my son.  Yes, we all tried it too.  It was very good. I also got a wonderful heartfelt handwritten card from my daughter.  All in all, not bad for a weekday birthday. 

And...after all...I couldn't have a wet tee shirt contest 2 years in a row...could I? 

Damn!  I could have!
 
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