I Remember Way Back When....

This past May, I went home to assist my mom after she had surgery. While there, I decided to clean, stop laughing, I really did. Anyway, she had a LOT of outdated frames so I decided to remove the 900 pictures she had in each frame, lol.( I have never understood why she chose to stack pictures versus removing them, but I digress.) My mom keeps EVERYTHING; from the very first ornament I made ( you know, the old cookie dough with your kindergarten picture in the middle) to my High School Diploma (yes, she had an official copy made). Moving on. As I was removing, or trying to remove, some of the photos, I came across some class pictures taken when I was in the 1st and 2nd grade. It was terrific to see the young faces so full of promise AND hope.

Tonight I decided to post the photos on Facebook and they were a big hit. Once the comments started coming in, I was amazed at how many people I couldn't remember, but there was always one person who could come up with a name for the not so clear face. We talked about how truly young we were and it started me to thinking about how times have changed. I know people say that all the time, but honestly it's true. See at the time those photos were taken, there was no cell phone for me to use, no Wii or Xbox to run home and play. There was no Facebook or Twitter to connect with friends, old and new. There was no worrying about if someone took an unflattering picture of me that it would end up online for the entire world to see (back in my youth, there wasn't even an internet, WOW, that's right I said it.) I can even remember when my grade school received their first Apple 2C computer (each school in the county had one and it was placed in the library for everyone to gawk at.) I could go on  but I think you get the picture.

People always say how easy kids today have it, but is it really that easy? As I was typing this, I realized we may have actually had it better than kids today. I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN we didn't have to worry about cyber-bullying or not being able to afford the latest SmartPhone or even being accepted on Facebook by people we barely like. I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN we didn't care about playing outside in the heat and getting dirty and sweaty in the process. I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN we weren't too cute too eat mud-pies and play 1-2-3-redlight and hide-n-seek in the broad daylight for everyone to see. I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN we weren't counting calories at 12 years old because we didn't want to gain weight. I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN knew how to act our age because everyone on the block reminded us when we got sassy. Most importantly, I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN we didn't have to worry about looking "suspicious" because we wore hooded sweatshirts or being gunned down because our music was too loud for the person in the next car .

Yep, we had it much easier than kids today. So the next time I feel the need to ridicule a young girl or boy for having it too "easy", I will try to REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN and be more understanding because times really have changed.