13 Changes

The Girl just took a final exam in her history class that included such things as which musician used to break his guitar on stage. Yeah. History class. Feeling old much? It got me thinking about the differences between now and when I was her age.

1. Let’s get rid of the obvious first. There was no internet.

2. Computers finally got small enough that you could fit one on a desk and cheep enough for a middle class person to buy.

3. I had only set foot in 16 states, two countries, and one continent. Now I’ve been to three continents, seven countries, and all but two states. Yeah, I still have a long way to go.

4. When I was out with my friends and wanted to let my mother know I’d be late getting home, I had to locate a pay phone or beg someone to let me use theirs.

5. Lawrence Welk was in re-runs. The Girl didn’t even know who Lawrence Welk was until I told her.

6. People still referred to the British Invasion with respect to music.

7. Women were expected to pay attention to the hemlines currently fashionable for skirts.

8. There was no such thing as a bike lane, but everyone under 16 was expected to get around on a bicycle.

9. No American civilian had ever gone into a school for the specific purpose of killing as many people as possible.

10. There were four channels on TV: ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. Unless you got cable. Then you got the same channels, only you got them clearer.

11. Movie makers tried to avoid excess violence or nudity so they wouldn’t get too harsh of a rating.

12. Divorce was the exception, and children from families where there had been a divorce were said to be from broken families.

13. PacMan was an exciting game.