[Original Mike]

OK, I have to relate a couple of observations that C has made over the last couple of weeks. Laugh along!

First, we were driving in the car and this song "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" came on the radio. The chorus has the line "Where is my John Wayne? Where is my Prairie Son?" After a couple of choruses, C looked at me and said "WHO is John Wayne?" After I re-started my heart, I explained the Duke to him. He'd never heard of him.

The other incident was actually begun a few weeks ago. Now that C is taller than I am, he likes to kid me about it. I told him "You may be taller, boy, but I can still take you." Well, he decided to sneak up on me one day and try to get me off-guard. I spun around, grabbed him, flipped him over my shoulder, and had him on his back with my knee on his chest. His eyes were bugged out and he said "I didn't think somebody YOUR AGE (emphasis added) could move like that." I grinned down at him and said "Just think, I'm only playing around right now." Guess this old geezer still has a few tricks. As long as he and J don't start trying tag-team...

Now, C and I are taking up Bo-Ken Japanese fencing. He says it will be easy to go up against someone "as old as his Dad". Foolish boy.....the Dark Lord will have to show him.

[crick]

I refuse to believe you are old, Mike. Because that would mean I am too!!

I had a couple of chuckles awhile ago after my kids discovered 2 really cool things they had never seen before....

1 - My oldest two got picked up by the babysitter who has a 1979 v-bug. When they got home, they told me S needs new windows in the car because they are broken. Upon further questioning, I discovered they thought the windows were broken because they are MANUAL. Realized they had never been in a car with manual handles to roll the windows up or down!!! I explained it to them and my 8 year old's response was "wow! you remember the old days??"

My dh is a music fanatic, plays in a band etc. and has kept all of his vinyl records. About 6 mos. ago, he brought out his old stereo and some Beatles records to play for the kids since they are hooked on their dad's love for them. Just watching their amazement at it all was quite cute and yes, it made me feel a bit old.

But to not know The Duke! Hope C knows The King??

[Deana]

My 6 yr old son asked me a while ago if it was scary when I was a kid and we had dinosaurs I really didn't think I was that old.(I'm 33) He thought I was really lucky that I wasn't eaten

[Indy]

My sons think I am old as well (only 40...still have lots of hair, some gray).

Last winter, I fell on the ice. The boys had to help me up, as it was a bad fall. Now, they walk me across any slippery areas, one on each side.

If there is something heavy to move, they get J or M to help. Or if we are working, they make sure that I am not working to hard. M is watching what I eat and reads the ingredients to make sure there is not any "bad" stuff.

Loved everyone's funny stories...I needed the laugh this morning.

[Barksum]

I love this thread!! And Mike, you CAN'T be old, because I think you are younger than me!!! Eeek.

My favorite oldie story is from a friend who met a youngish girl who said, "Did you know Paul McCarthy was in a band BEFORE Wings?!" (ie: the Beatles) Obviously this was a few years ago, since I don't think that many kids even know about Wings now! LOL

One of my personal experiences with old-ness was when I tripped and fell down the last two steps of my stairs. My nephew was very concerned. He made some comment about how scarey it was when "elderly people get hurt". Groan.

[crick]

Barksum - I had to laugh at your story because my kids have got to be the only kids under 8 who know about Wings! Dh is a huge Beatles fanatic and made sure the kids were exposed immediately! One of their favorite movies is "The Yellow Submarine"!

I've not fallen yet so don't have the elderly comments from that. I do however get bombarded with "you shouldn't eat that because older people have to watch what they eat or they get heart attacks and die" from my oldest 2 who just completed the nutrition segment in Health class at school.

I also get the "when you were a kid, did you have ???" and you know, often times the answer is "no". Whaaaaa!

[DianeS]

Oh, no, no, no. People who know about John Wayne CAN'T be old. We just can't.

Lets chalk it up to C's limited life experience instead! Not showing those movies to your kids has to be some kind of social neglect, right? I vote that watching an entire John Wayne movie should be added to his chore list next weekend. It's for his own good...

[kay]

My son knows John Wayne, but I think only because we watch "I Love Lucy", and have seen the "footprints stolen from Graumann's Chinese" episode a bajillion times. Time to be a-rentin' a movie (I'm thinking maybe "The Searchers".)

Usually I am *way* old, according to my son. We've done all the Beatles/records/car stuff. But last night I got a reprieve - he was talking about his birth grandmother, and how she'll probably die soon, because she smokes too much (true) and is old, anyway. He seems to have forgotten (and I didn't remind him!) that she is younger than I!!

[Kerbchek]

I've been a teacher for several years and my students sometimes try to guess my age... They never guess younger than I really am... I don't like that game...

[kiwi]

After a really thought provoking history segment in the 4th grade, I came home to honestly ask my dad "When you were my age did your flashlights have batteries or candles?"

[Original Mike]

On the idea of "did you have...when you were a kid", I think I horrified C when I told him (truthfully) that the TV we had when I was little was BLACK & WHITE, got FOUR CHANNELS, and we had to GET UP to change the channel!!

Maybe I should send him to live with one of our local Amish families for the summer!!!

[lambeausam]

I have two stories about my youngest brother to share...He was about 5 when John Wayne died. We were living in SoCal at the time and he told everyone that John Wayne was his grandfather. My father loved watching John Wayne movies, but we don't know where that thought comes from.

About eight years ago, I moved back to the midwest from SoCal. I flew my little brother out so that we could drive cross-country together. We ran into an ice storm in West Texas and had to find a hotel for the night. It was a little "Ma and Pa" operation. When he tried to use the television, he couldn't figure out how it worked. He didn't remember hi-fi televisions with separate Uhf and Vhf dials. The poor boy grew up with cable and never had the privilege of turning the "rabbit ears."

I now look at the computer equipment my boys use and think back to those old C64 days with a tape recorder.

BTW, I'll never grow up. No one can make me even though I'm hitting 36 on Sunday.

Sam

[Kerbchek]

I found an old rotary phone at a flea market - took it home and plugged it in to the phone line. I had "A" with me at the time- probably a couple of years ago - he was 15 then, and had no idea how to call out on it. He thought it was so cool when I showed him how, we left it hooked up and he used that phone all the time. Not only did he think it was crazy to dial using the rotary numbers, but that the receiver had a cord on it too!!!

[crick]

Phones with cords!!! Oh, the hours spent trying to untangle yourself from those. And t.v.'s with no remotes and rabbit ears with pieces of foil wrapped around to get the best reception...Kay, I'm gonna have to stop reading this thread now because at 35, I am not going to feel old!

Kiwi - I'm sure your dad answered "candles" just to be funny, eh?

I went out to an "Old Fashioned Candy" website not too long ago because all of the sudden I had a craving for a "Marathon" candy bar. Remember those? Or the "Bit O Honey"? I miss those, and what's sad is I probably would require a trip to the dentist if I tried eating the sticky bit o honey's now.

[Jensboys]

First off, Crick you have said "eh" in a post at least 3 times this week and I would like to honor your attempts at converting to Canadianisms in honor of ME

Secondly, last year my son came home from grade two to tell me his EXTREMELY elderly teacher (was 65 but looked around 85) had had a birthday and he thought that MAYBE she was EVEN OLDER THAN ME. I was 29. TWENTY NINE!!!

My kids love hearing stories of the "old days" when people didnt have cel phones and mommy couldnt email.

Jen