I Have My Memories

Well, it is official!

I suppose it has been official for some time now, I am an old fart. I am old and I fart, but that isn’t what I mean. I have become one of those guys that complain about pretty much everything. Hell, I am even complaining about complaining. Sheeesh!

I don’t know what the world is coming to and I fear for the future. Why can’t things have remained stuck in the sixties and seventies? I would have liked that. The music was great, clothing was comfortable, there was free love (or so I have heard), the drugs made you mellow, not dead and people seemed to have a pretty good work ethic. When we weren’t stoned of course. We enjoyed simple pleasures like Frisbee in the park, free love (or so I have heard), 29¢ McDonalds burgers and albums for $3 or $4 bucks. A concert with a big name was six to ten dollars and there was free love (or so I have heard).

I worry that the generation that we raised have become entitled, lazy attachments to the cell phone. I saw a young mother walking with her kid the other day and wasn’t surprised to see the mom on the phone while her kid tried to talk to her to no avail. For the life of me I can’t understand what is so compelling about the cell phones. I have one, it doesn’t have me. I use it to make phone calls, settle disputes like what was Rob and Laura Petries son Richie’s middle name. It was ROSEBUD just in case you wondered. He was named after the name suggestions of seven relatives, Robert, Oscar, Sam, Edward, Benjamin, Ulysses, David.

These are the people who are in charge of building enough retirement homes for us baby boomers. They can’t take their eyes off of those fucking phones long enough to interact with their own kids. I’m pretty sure we will all be converted to Soylent Green when we hit seventy.

A while back I heard a young mom say that after being on holiday with the kids she and her hubby will be taking an adult vacation next year leaving the kids with grandma and grandpa. Hmmmm…. Maybe that is normal, maybe that is the way things have always been. Louise and I moved away from family and didn’t have the option. However, I can’t imagine going on vacation without the kids. They deserved a holiday as much or more than we did. Sometimes we would send the kids to camp and while they were having fun riding and swimming we would be single unencumbered adults in our own home. I always enjoyed making memories with the kids and hopefully they still have those memories.

I know that the memories weren’t always the best and at least once I would pull the car over to the side of the road and threaten to turn around and go home. We all knew that would never happen, but in some small corner of my admittedly tiny brain it was a possibility.

I would advise those parents thinking of an adult getaway to reconsider. There is nothing I wouldn’t give to go on holiday with my kids again. It would be fun to spend time with them as adults when no one was cooking or cleaning up. Not to be I guess, but I have my memories.