IT'S OFFICIAL! I'M 50!

Today is my birthday and I hit the big 5 0! Yes that is right, I'm 1/2 of a century old. I'm on the down side of that big hill of life.

I can finally sign up for AARP now. Yippee!

Well I sure have seen a lot of history in my life time. Here are a few things that I can remember that have come about since I was born.

A man walked on the moon. My mom made me watch this even though I couldn't care less at the time. She said some day I would be happy I did. I guess she is right.

TV got remote controls. The first one we got only had a few buttons. Nothing like the ones we have today. You could turn the TV on or off and the channel could be turned, one station at a time and only in one direction. But, that was OK. There were only a few channels. No cable back then. Oh, and if you turned the TV off with the remote only and not on the TV itself, it would turn back on if a plane flew over. Strange.

Microwaves were not around until I was already living on my own. Everything had to be cooked the good old fashioned way. Slowly. If you wanted to thaw something you took it out of the freezer and a few hours later you could have it thawed. If you needed it thawed quicker you put the frozen item in the sink with water in it. Still took forever though.

ATMs weren't around either. You could only go to the bank when it was opened. You wrote checks a lot more. When the first ATM cards came out people were scared to make a deposit through the machine. They worried that their money would get lost or stolen.

The world seemed smaller. You never heard of places like IRAQ, IRAN or anywhere in the middle east much. Russia was a big country that we feared. They were the bad guys. Had spies and wanted to take over us. We even had "duck and cover" drills at school. I wondered just how much safety was really under those little desks. If a bomb was dropped would that desk really help to save us from getting hurt???

Planes were much smaller and didn't go as fast as the ones we have now. So travel out of the country was not as popular as it is today. Most families would drive if they went on vacation.

There were no DVRs, DVDs or CDs. In fact cassette tapes were not even around in the first part of my life. When 8 track tapes came out they were WONDERFUL! I never could understand why the track would change right in the middle of a song though. Oh and no one listened to FM radio. Even car radios only had AM.

Home computers weren't even thought about when I was little. Once they did come out most people never dreamed they would ever buy one. They couldn't even think of a reason of why someone would need or even want one.

No one worried about eating healthy. Everything was fried in grease that you saved from cooking bacon for breakfast. Gravy was a normal part of dinner. Everyone ate meals sitting down at the table as a family. We didn't have fast food drive through places.

We were able to pray in school, say the Plead of Allegiance to the flag and even end it with "One Nation Under GOD". Teachers were respected and we had to listen to what they said. You wouldn't dream of talking back to your teacher.

People were proud to be Americans. You never heard anyone put the President down or burn the flag.

Mother's were always home when kids got home from school. They went to PTA meetings and knew your teacher.

Dogs were "just pets". They ate table scraps, lived outside for the most part, never went to the vets for check ups or teeth cleaning. There were no stores that sold doggy clothes or fancy collars. If you gave your dog a bath it was outside with the hose and there was never any special conditioner to use to make them softer.

Yes, times have change. Most things seem better now. But, not everything. It's called progress. Growing up.

I can't wait to see what the next 1/2 of my life brings.

Have a great day everyone!

Hugs to you,

Joanne