Relics

"Mom, I need your help," my kid said to me the other day.

She's twenty-one and getting ready to move out into her own place. I felt pretty great that she was asking me for help. I mean, that's kind of the goal of good parenting, right?

We want our kids to be independent but we'd like to remain relevant in their lives.

"The dishwasher that we have is from the 60's and we can't figure out how to operate it. I thought you'd know how."

The realization of what she said washed over me in a three part wave:

~ She thought I was from the 60's just like the dinosaur of a dishwasher she couldn't operate

~ Her need of me had nothing to do with my competency so much as my knowledge of old things

~ Of all the people she knew, she figured I was the best to operate a relic

I looked at my friend Lynnette who was suppressing a grin behind her hand.

"Your mom is not from the sixties!" she said and we all burst out laughing.

I'm going to really consider helping with this dishwasher, but first I'm going to figure out how to use it as leverage.

Kids don't see their parents as young.

I know this. I remember this. There is a distinct memory lodged in the corners of my brain when I realized my parents were born in the 1940's.

My mind was blown thinking about the world they grew up in. Every time I watched old tv shows I inserted my parents in various roles.

A few weeks ago Liam found a penny, and he noticed right away that the year was 1983.

"Whoa! This is from the '80's mom!" his joy was overwhelming, "Can you believe it?"

I was staring off into space not quite listening when he asked, "How much do you think it's worth?"

Sharing with him that it was worth one cent disappointed him.

"Liam, the 80's weren't that long ago. I was ten years old in 1983."

He lost his mind. "YOU WERE ALIVE IN THE 80'S?" he exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. For goodness sakes, I'm not from the 40's.

"What was it like back then?" he asked, genuine curiosity sparkling in his little eyes. "Did you have televisions?"

"Yes, we had televisions. We had to use our fingers to change the channel, though."

Horror filled his small face.

"We had telephones, but they were connected by a cord to the wall. You couldn't go very far while you talked."

His jaw dropped in amazement.

"Also, not many people had cell phones because they were expensive and the size of a small suitcase. We used something called a payphone if we were out. It took a quarter to make a phone call."

Liam reached out and took my hand, maybe in consolation?

I was kind of getting into this. I even thought I was seeing reverence in his eyes. Maybe this would be a way get my last born to respect me a little.

"The only thing we used for money was cash, coins and checks. We had to fill out the checks at the store with a pen. We had to write the date and sign our names." I told him somberly.

Recalling the extreme hardship of the '80's was helping me to see how much I'd come through in my life time, how far we had come since that time.

"We had microwaves the size of our television set. We could only listen to the song the radio played or that we had recorded on a cassette tape. We had to rewind these cassette tapes, Liam, and it was very, very hard to find the beginning or end of a song and sometimes we had to start listening in the middle just to get to the right place."

I shared one of the songs that played constantly during that long ago era:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo

What in the actual heck is happening in this video?

Once I began reliving my archaic childhood I couldn't stop. I told him there were no seatbelt laws. Heck, there were not even car seats. We kept my little brother in some kind of plastic thing in the back seat. The seatbelts were used to keep sibling territories separate.

"Mom, was air conditioning a thing?"

Oh, yeah. Air conditioning.

"Liam, it would blow some cold air out but not enough to keep you cold in the summer. Just enough to help you feel that the heat wouldn't kill you. Your legs still stuck to the furniture. In the car we had to use the windows."

Honestly, he had me wondering how we had even survived the 80's.

I mean, how did we survive the 80's?

Me, surviving the 80's.

The clothes, the music, the microwaved food. Not to mention the curling irons, hair spray, and the Cold War.

But, survive we did! As will this generation and the ones to come after them.

Even if they are wearing acid washed jeans and scrunchies AGAIN.

Be brave, misfits! Don't stop believin', collaborate and listen, and don't have a total eclipse of the heart.