SURVIVORS (Stolen from the DHS '52 Chat Column)

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FOR THOSE OF US BORN PRIOR TO 1949: We are survivors! 

Consider the changes we have witnessed. We are before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and "the pill." 

We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens; before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and before man walked on the moon. 

We got married first and then lived together, how quaint can you be? 

In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. 

Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with our cousins. 

We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent, and Outer Space was the back of a Riviera Theater. 

We were before house-husbands, gay-rights, computer dating, careers and computer marriages. We were before daycare centers, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, and guys wearing earrings. 

For us, "time sharing" meant togetherness- not computers or condos. A 'chip' meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware and software wasn't even a word! 

In 1940, "made in Japan" meant junk and the term "making out" referred to how you did on an exam. 

Pizzas, "McDonalds" and instant coffee were unheard of. We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 cent stores where you bought things for five and ten cents. The Dairy Bar sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime. For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two post cards. 

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one, a pity too, because gas was only 11 cents a gallon! 

In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, GRASS was mowed, COKE was a cold drink, and POT was something you cooked in. 

ROCK MUSIC was a Grandma's lullaby and AIDS were helpers in the Principal's office. 

We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered but we were surely before sex changes; we made due with what we had. 

We may have been the last generation that was so dumb as to think you need a husband to have a baby! 

No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap today!