Gotta Be Over 40 - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

soizan · 05-28-2006, 04:33 AM

GOTTA BE OVER 40 TO UNDERSTAND

Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are now....
Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the National Anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a headache or fever.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah, and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! There was more clover and more honey bees in those days, too.

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked!
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did, we got our butt spanked there, and then we got butt spanked again when we got home I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof.

It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a "dysfunctional family". How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so
many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T---- SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING

cwohio · 05-28-2006, 04:46 AM

yep - i can identify - oops showing my age here! LOL

Mongo · 05-28-2006, 05:25 AM

Getting old is not for wimps.

Mongo

nufznuf · 05-28-2006, 10:29 AM

yup yup\
raw hamburger, raw beef steak....had to get a bite before it was all cooked.
oh how I wish for the simpler times...
Thanks for the reminder of my childhood....

Jazzman · 05-28-2006, 02:18 PM

That brought back fond memories....

Thanks!

2dayzmuse · 05-28-2006, 02:32 PM

We rolled around in the back of a station wagon without seat belts. OMG!

leviathon · 05-28-2006, 04:54 PM

well I am not in my forties, but I recall much the same thing... except we had iodine and skipped the hit on the butt... iodine was punishment in and of itself!

It does make you wonder where children are to learn a sense of responsibility (I had chores at home and didn't get an allowance if they weren't done; I had a paper route and actually had to deliver them myself... my parents didn't drive me) and a sense of pride (I was proud that I achieved all A's in school. I was ashamed if I missed school b/c of skipping out)... now adays mediocre is ok and skip if you want there really isn't a consequence as all children are passed to the next grade. In my day, you actually had to pass the curriculum, no exceptions, or you didn't go to the next grade. When kids graduated from high school they could read and write and do arithmatic, etc., that seems to have been lost somewhere in the recent years.

When I became an adult I realized we were actually homeless for a summer, we camped out for the whole summer, while our home was built. Oh my god, we were homeless... gee and i thought we were just having a camp out summer... had no idea as a kid that we were actually without home for three months... oh wait, we must have been hopelessly damaged beyond repair... oh wait, I graduated, went to uni and then to professional school... hmmm must of been the exception to the rule! LOL

Go figure. Levi

osier59 · 05-31-2006, 08:07 PM

Yep. I remember those days. Hopefully those things will all become RETRO sometime soon and then they will be all the rage.

One can only hope.

Go figure. Barb

highanddry · 05-31-2006, 08:58 PM

Remember the "Board of Education"? The really effective ones had holes drilled in them to reduce the wind resistance as they were swung at your back side. And if that wasn't enough you would likely get a lickin' when you got home too.
If a teacher tried that these days they'd probably do jail time.

Jazzman · 06-01-2006, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highanddry

Remember the "Board of Education"?

Yep... the principal at my elementary school had one hanging on the wall in his office. Never had to use it on me

2dayzmuse · 06-01-2006, 05:28 AM

Twice.

Jazzman · 06-01-2006, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2dayzmuse

Twice.

LOL!! Was that for rolling around in the back of the station wagon?

I guess I just never got caught... *grin*

daddysgirl29 · 06-01-2006, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soizan

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the National Anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

YES!!

I'm not 40 yet (just turned 39), but I do remember all of the scenarios!! Remember we could actually go play OUTSIDE and not worry about getting snatched up? My brothers would disappear all day, but show up for supper (not 'dinner'), and all was good.

There's a song by 'Train' called "Calling All Angels", and one of the lines is "children have to stay inside so they don't disappear." Amen....

Thanks for the memories!! (and I still brown-bag my lunch!)

OVERIT · 06-01-2006, 07:06 AM

Mercurochrome! Lord, how I remember that! We called it the "red medicine".

Thanks for the memories!

best · 06-01-2006, 07:39 AM

Stepford wives here we come *LOL*

LovingMom · 06-01-2006, 08:07 AM

We had Mercurochrome..but called it monkey blood. We also have Turpinhydrade cough medicine...burned like the dickens going down..we called it G.I. Gin. Can you tell I was brought up military? LOL

6402 · 06-01-2006, 08:12 AM

That was so cute. And believe me, I get it. I'm 43 constantly feeling like the world is way more complicated than it needs to me.

Thanks again.

fraankie · 06-19-2006, 09:51 AM

oh, yeah

in new york city
it used to be
the "dept of sanitation"
now
it's the "dept of enviormental protection"

same with the "garbage man'
now
he's an enviormentalist

2dayzmuse · 06-19-2006, 01:15 PM

Remember when the planet Uranus was pronounced Ur-Anus. Then over night it became Ur-a-nus. Was there a sudden epiphany somewhere? Hmmm...

05-28-2006, 04:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
soizan Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Deerfield, WI Posts: 147	Gotta Be Over 40 GOTTA BE OVER 40 TO UNDERSTAND Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli. Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then. The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are now.... Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym. Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the National Anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a headache or fever. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. Oh yeah, and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! There was more clover and more honey bees in those days, too. We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked! Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did, we got our butt spanked there, and then we got butt spanked again when we got home I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a "dysfunctional family". How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive? LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T---- SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING __________________

05-28-2006, 04:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
cwohio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Litterbox City Posts: 6,142	yep - i can identify - oops showing my age here! LOL __________________ *Learn to write your hurts in sand. Learn to carve your blessings in stone! - Unknown*

05-28-2006, 05:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mongo Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 363	Getting old is not for wimps. Mongo __________________ 'tis nobler to be sobler...

05-28-2006, 10:29 AM	#4 (permalink)
nufznuf Sweet Christmas secrets Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: ALASKA Posts: 119	yup yup\ raw hamburger, raw beef steak....had to get a bite before it was all cooked. oh how I wish for the simpler times... Thanks for the reminder of my childhood.... __________________ ALASKA Unless you are the lead dog, The scenery never changes. Alaska...where the odds are good... but the goods are odd

05-28-2006, 04:54 PM	#7 (permalink)
leviathon Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Somwhere over the rainbow Posts: 1,175	well I am not in my forties, but I recall much the same thing... except we had iodine and skipped the hit on the butt... iodine was punishment in and of itself! It does make you wonder where children are to learn a sense of responsibility (I had chores at home and didn't get an allowance if they weren't done; I had a paper route and actually had to deliver them myself... my parents didn't drive me) and a sense of pride (I was proud that I achieved all A's in school. I was ashamed if I missed school b/c of skipping out)... now adays mediocre is ok and skip if you want there really isn't a consequence as all children are passed to the next grade. In my day, you actually had to pass the curriculum, no exceptions, or you didn't go to the next grade. When kids graduated from high school they could read and write and do arithmatic, etc., that seems to have been lost somewhere in the recent years. When I became an adult I realized we were actually homeless for a summer, we camped out for the whole summer, while our home was built. Oh my god, we were homeless... gee and i thought we were just having a camp out summer... had no idea as a kid that we were actually without home for three months... oh wait, we must have been hopelessly damaged beyond repair... oh wait, I graduated, went to uni and then to professional school... hmmm must of been the exception to the rule! LOL Go figure. Levi __________________ Hope springs eternal!

05-28-2006, 02:18 PM	#5 (permalink)
Jazzman Occasional poor taste poster Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Back of the class, Northern VA Posts: 2,423	That brought back fond memories.... Thanks!

05-28-2006, 02:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
2dayzmuse Paused Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington Posts: 5,093	We rolled around in the back of a station wagon without seat belts. OMG!

05-31-2006, 08:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
osier59 No More Mrs. Nice Guy Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 724	Yep. I remember those days. Hopefully those things will all become RETRO sometime soon and then they will be all the rage. One can only hope. Go figure. Barb __________________ ~~Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!

05-31-2006, 08:58 PM	#9 (permalink)
highanddry Out of the bog and lovin' it Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: A little left of center Posts: 20	Remember the "Board of Education"? The really effective ones had holes drilled in them to reduce the wind resistance as they were swung at your back side. And if that wasn't enough you would likely get a lickin' when you got home too. If a teacher tried that these days they'd probably do jail time.

06-01-2006, 05:28 AM	#11 (permalink)
2dayzmuse Paused Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington Posts: 5,093	Twice.

06-01-2006, 07:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
OVERIT Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Good Ole' Rocky Top! Posts: 3,540	Mercurochrome! Lord, how I remember that! We called it the "red medicine". Thanks for the memories!

06-01-2006, 07:39 AM	#15 (permalink)
best Don't get undies in a bunch Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: South Shore MA Posts: 7,161	Stepford wives here we come LOL __________________ * I asked God to spare me pain. God said "No", Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me. Recovery Related Acronym B. E. S. T. = Been Enjoying Sobriety Today?

06-01-2006, 08:07 AM	#16 (permalink)
LovingMom Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Carrollton, Texas Posts: 218	We had Mercurochrome..but called it monkey blood. We also have Turpinhydrade cough medicine...burned like the dickens going down..we called it G.I. Gin. Can you tell I was brought up military? LOL __________________ Love Is...Friendship on Fire.

06-01-2006, 08:12 AM	#17 (permalink)
6402 Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: CO Posts: 2	That was so cute. And believe me, I get it. I'm 43 constantly feeling like the world is way more complicated than it needs to me. Thanks again.

06-19-2006, 09:51 AM	#18 (permalink)
fraankie Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: brooklyn, new york Posts: 1,474	oh, yeah in new york city it used to be the "dept of sanitation" now it's the "dept of enviormental protection" same with the "garbage man' now he's an enviormentalist

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

06-19-2006, 01:15 PM	#19 (permalink)
2dayzmuse Paused Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Washington Posts: 5,093	Remember when the planet Uranus was pronounced Ur-Anus. Then over night it became Ur-a-nus. Was there a sudden epiphany somewhere? Hmmm...