Growing Up-Or Not

Yesterday, I received one of those emails from a friend that was sending it on to several of our long-time group.  We graduated from high school together long ago now, but still keep in touch.  The email had photos of many ordinary items from our younger years. Items that are no longer around, but which were common several years ago.  S&H Green Stamps.  I loved licking those stamps and pasting them into that little book my mother had.  Skate Key.  No one has a skate key any more, no one really has skates.  My skates were great-like freedom to a kid. We could skate farther in our neighborhood than we were really allowed to be on our feet alone.  The key allowed all of my sisters to share a pair of skates.  They fit all three sets of feet.  We had a blast.

It made me think of my kids and my grandkids.  What do we use daily that will make them nostalgic for their younger years?  My kids have already become nostalgic for some of the video games that they played in their younger years.  I know that they laugh over the old cell phones and the old computer models that were around when they were young. 

I really am old.  I am the same age as my parents when I was raising my children.  I feel older some days than others.  When I realize that it has been that long, it surprises me.  The time just went by so fast.  I remember hearing that from my grandmother.  But now it has happened to me.  We were the generation that was never going to grow up.  The Peter Pan generation.  Guess that we aren’t so special after all. 

My granddaughters have grown so much just in the 2 1/2 years since the oldest was born.  I look back at pictures of the oldest and it is hard to believe that she looked like that just a few months ago.  So, I know that time is still passing.  One of the things that the oldest has begun to do, is to tell us that she is now a baby again. She wants to get all of the special treatment and attention that, at least in her eyes, her baby sister is receiving.  But I know what she means.  I want to go back to being younger on some days, as well.  I wish I could go back and really enjoy my kids when they were younger.  I would love to go back and be sure that I took full advantage of school.  I definitely would go back and make some different decisions about my career. 

But, I don’t really want to live it all over again.  I like this place in my life overall.  I wish I didn’t have so many aches and pains. but it is nice not to get worked up about some of the things I did when I was younger.  We have now obtained some financial stability-enough to allow my son and daughter-in-law to live here with us in a large home along with their two daughters. 

Peter Pan, you missed a lot!

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