CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE THE VIEW

Life changes as time passes. We all know that. Trying to explain to the younger generation what our lives were like is often like speaking a foreign language. And the opposite is also true. I cannot imagine my own parents living in this technological world. I received this little poem in my email today and I wanted you to see it. I think the author has said it all very well. The world we grew up in did not prepare us for living in the world of today — who knew?

Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.

We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn.

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one’s seen him since.

We danced to ‘Little Darlin,’ and sang to ‘Stagger Lee’

And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.

We didn’t have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn’t talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they’d go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.

For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We’d never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren’t named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.

And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkeys lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We’d never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.

And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and ‘gay’ meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn’t seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.

There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
and fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.

And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we’ve heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We’ve come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they’re using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children’s children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

When our children were very young, and Whitey still had vision, he required them to wake up and shout “Enthusiasm”. Our little five year old daughter would sleepily answer, “Fusiasm, Daddy, Fusiasm”.

Now we are grandparents, and this week, our grandson gave us the giggles as he told us he always shouts “Enthusiasm” when he wakes up. And of course he very loudly demonstrated exactly how he does it!

Yes, he had had some coaching from Poppy along the way, but we had no idea he was actually doing it. And I know his dad, our son, laughed and laughed the first time he did that! It is a joyful thing to see little traditions like that one passed on to the next generation.

The thing that fascinates me is that Whitey’s enthusiasm for life never faded with his vision. When I ask him about it, he refers back to good coaches and childhood athletic programs. All I know is that he has maintained that positive attitude and I am so thankful! Can you imagine living with a blind partner who complains all the time? Whew!

One of Whitey’s favorite writings is

Attitude

by Chuck Swindoll.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.

I got this from my email today and loved it, so have to share with you. The message — don’t mess with the old folks! We have been around a long time and we know a few things! Right?

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE
WHEN YOU’RE OLD
AND DON’T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.
George P , an elderly man, was going up to bed, when his wife
told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed,
which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened
the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there
were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked “Is
someone in your house?”
He said “No,” but some people are
breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me.

Then the police dispatcher said “All
patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer
will be along when one is available..”

George said, “Okay.”

He hung up the phone and counted to
30. Then he phoned the police again.

“Hello, I just called you a few
seconds ago because there were people stealing things from
my shed.. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now
because I just shot and killed them both, the dogs are
eating them right now.” and he hung up.

Within five minutes, six Police Cars,
a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a
Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips’
residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George ,
“I thought you said that you’d shot them!”
George said, “I thought you said there
was nobody available!”

(True Story) I LOVE IT!
Don’t mess with old people.

In honor of Global Belly Laugh Day, I am interrupting our thoughts on blindness. Today, January 24, is the fifth annual celebration of Global Belly Laugh day.

At precisely 1:24 p.m. today (your local time), throw your arms up in the air and laugh outloud! This is the Belly Laugh Bounce around the world! Certainly you don’t want to miss that! Can you imagine people around the world laughing today? View the World Clock of laughter and participate in this joyful celebration!

And to assist you in your laughter — I received this one in my email. It is credited to David McClure from the Dallas News Community Opinion page.

$5.37. That’s what the kid behind the counter at Taco Bueno said to me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly Rancher. Having already handed the kid a five-spot, I started to head back out to the truck to grab some change when the kid with the Emo hairdo said the harshest thing anyone has ever said to me. He said, “It’s OK ! I’ll just give you the senior citizen discount.”

I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting the counter in front of me. “Only $4.68″ he said cheerfully. I stood there stupefied. I am 48, not even 50 yet, a mere child! Senior citizen?

I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong with Emo! Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil. Old? Me?

I’ll show him, I thought. I opened the door and headed back inside. I strode to the counter, and there he was waiting with a smile.

Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me, like I could be that easily distracted! What am I now? A toddler?

“Dude! Can’t get too far without your car keys, eh?” I stared with utter disdain at the keys. I began to rationalize in my mind. “Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to anyone!”

I turned and headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn’t turn. What now? I checked my keys and tried another. Still nothing. That’s when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror. I had no purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror !

Then, a few other objects came into focus. The car seat in the back seat. Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard. A partially eaten doughnut on the dashboard. Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle. Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life.

That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found!

I swung the truck around, gathered my courage, and strode back into the restaurant one final time. There Emo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish. All I could think was, “What is the world coming to?”but all I could say was, “Did I leave my food and drink in here?” At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.

Emo had no clue. I walked back out to the truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He was holding up a drink and a bag. His mother explained, “I think you left this in my truck by mistake !” I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.

She offered these kind words: “It’s OK ! My grandfather does stuff like this all the time!”

All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40. Yes, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius.. And no, I told the officer, I’m not too old to be driving this fast!
As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall. I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket. I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blanky.

The good news was I had successfully found my way home !

Continuing yesterday’s discussion of my husband’s legal blindness and how we cope –

Whitey had hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago. As with every other doctor visit or hospital visit, he was busy creating havoc. Just before they wheeled him into surgery, staff popped in and out of the room, checking his armband and asking “What is your name?” Finally he could take it no longer. He answered “Sidney Shagnasty!”

Wouldn’t you like to know what that nurse told the rest of the staff when she got out of that room?

Of course, he had also asked the surgeon his classic question — “Doc, will I be able to drive after this surgery?”
The doctor said, “Yes, in a few weeks you should be able to drive”

“It’s a miracle! I have not driven in over 25 years! Thank you, Doc!”

I can’t take him anywhere!

I am quickly learning how desperately I need more patience — with clerks in the stores, with family and friends, with the television set, but most of all with myself! I think of the old prayer, “Lord send me patience and I want it right now!”

Very often I remind myself of this lady –

“WHERE is my SUNDAY paper?!” The irate customer calling the newspaper office, loudly demanded to know where her Sunday edition was.
“Madam”, said the newspaper employee, “today is Saturday. The Sunday paper is not delivered until tomorrow, on SUNDAY”.
There was quite a long pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a ray of recognition as she was heard to mutter, “Well, s***, so that’s why no one was at church.”

Seniors often feel unheard, ignored. But you know what? It’s our own fault. If you feel unheard, what can you do to change your message so that it is heard?

I am a huge American Idol fan. Last week I laughed as 62 year old General Larry Platt sang his “Pants on the Ground” song. I totally enjoyed his performance, his energy, his happy attitude. And sure enough, the next day, when the video popped up on YouTube, over 34,000 people watched it. This in addition to the American Idol television audience — and from now on, when someone complains about kids wearing their pants hanging down, we will remember General Larry Platt’s song. I can well imagine parents across the country singing that tune to their teens! Can’t you? I know if we had had a teen who was dressing with his pants hanging down and hat turned sideways, and we had known that song, we would have been singing it and making fun!

Senior Citizen General Larry Platt made a difference and his message was heard loud and clear last week.

Sometimes it is not our message we need to change, but our delivery.

Sarcasm! Seniors are more dignified than that, right?

Nope! We can all be a bit sarcastic from time to time. It is a rather disgusting habit. I am guilty of it myself.

So how do you let your readers know when you are being sarcastic? Big news! There is now new punctuation for sarcasm on line. I am a bit fascinated by all the stir, I admit. Is this how new punctuation is born? Do we really need punctuation to be rude and sarcastic?

You can download the SarcMark for $1.99 — and –no, this is not an affiliate link! I don’t want to encourage its use, but I do think the idea is interesting, and the video is right on target with it’s rudeness.

Ok, it’s funny to me! The question is, will we all be using the sarcmark in 2010? I seriously wonder about that. Is the sarcmark an idea whose time has come? Most of us communicate more in writing now than in the past. Watch the video. Ponder the sarcmark idea and let me know what you think. <a href=” >object>

Thank you Alex, for helping me get this video on my post!

PS This is post # 5 of the 30 day challenge!

If you are in the USA, you are busy this week — getting ready for the annual Thanksgiving Feast. This little video is your break for today! Enjoy!

Just point on the little box in front of the title and the video will play right here in this blog.

Thanksgiving Turkey Song