I was telling the girls that their uncle was visiting California to possibly make a cross-country move with his family. The girls asked if their cousins would leave their friends and schools and then said that they would be sad if they personally had to leave their school.
I told them that it’s actually pretty common for people to move and that I spent my childhood moving around. In fact not counting where I currently reside – the longest I have ever lived anywhere was 5 1/2 years. We moved when I was a baby and a toddler and a second grader and a seventh grader. And then right after high school graduation I hit the road and spent the next 15 years in 8 different locations.
We’ve lived here now for nine years and I’ve got the itch and wanted to ask my brother if we could just move with him because I’m kind of ready. And I know my kids will be fine. Kids are more resilient than most people think.
Anyway, the point of this post is that Eloise’s main question to the whole ‘wow people move thing’ was “did you still talk to your friends when you moved away?” and I told her that yes, I did. We wrote lots of letters.
“Letters, why didn’t you just send an email?” She asked.
Um, because there were no computers back then, I replied.
“You mean you didn’t have computers in the olden days? Why couldn’t you just call your friends on your iPhone?” Asked Esther
Um, because cell phones were not invented yet. I shook my head.
“Well did you have cars so you could visit her or did you just have to ride a horse?” Esther asked
SERIOUSLY, I mean come on, you’ve seen pictures of me as a little girl – did I have a bonnet on? DID I HAVE A BONNET ON IN ANY PICTURE. EVER! I AM NOT FROM THE OLDEN PRAIRIE DAYS!
“So like you could not text her or anything? How did you send her pictures so you know what she looked like as you got older?” Asked Eloise
“OMG you didn’t have cameras back in the olden days did you!?” Asked Esther.
YES YES we had cameras WAAAYYY back then but we took our pictures on film as there were not computers so we didn’t have digital pictures, I replied.
“So you could not see the picture on your camera after you took the pictures? How did you see them and how did you get them out?” Eloise asked
We would carry the film to the drugstore and wait three days to pick them up and then pray we got one good one.
“Whoa I bet your threw away a lot of pictures. So how did you then get that picture to your old friend” asked Esther
MAIL!!! I MAILED them letters and MAILED them pictures. THE MAIL. WE USED THE MAIL to communicate.
That is seriously the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. I guess it would be so much easier to move away these days because computers and phones. You were really brave to do it back in the olden days” Said Eloise.
I AM NOT FROM THE OLDEN DAYS. The 60′s and 70′s are not the olden days!
“Okay mom, whatever you say but if you didn’t have computers, texting, cell phones and digital cameras – YOU LIVED IN THE OLDEN DAYS! No offense.”
*****
So it got me thinking – what are your kids the most shocked about to hear you lived without back in the olden days? (And seriously, do you remember just waiting and waiting for your film to be developed?)
I used to look forward to picking up my photos from the photo shop!! And I also looked forward to checking my mailbox (a real one) for letters and cards (and care boxes from Mom when I was in university).
The olden days – my husband and I guffaw over floppy disks and how little space we had in our hard drives.
Alison@Mama Wants This recently posted..Letter to My Son: Part Deux
I used to make floppy disks – waaaayyy back in the day.
Dude, my daughter asked my husband the other day if CARS were invented when he was little. CARS! Like…is he 90 years old or something????
dweej {House Unseen} recently posted..What I Remember
Cars – OMG I’m dying.
Oh, c’mon, you know there has to be a photo of you in a bonnet on your horse out there somewhere! LOL! So cute the way one minute the kids will say, how old are you, Mom, like 15? And the next thing you know, they will ask if toilet paper was invented when you were a little girl! Such cute Easter bunnies at your house!!
Melanie H. recently posted..Thank You for the Cross, Lord
There probably is some Holly Hobbie or Laura Ingall’s picture of me around here somewhere…
It tickles my fancy to know that your children think YOU are from the “olden days”. I miss some of the things from the olden days.
I know – payback is a bitch isn’t it mom. I now apologize for calling you old when you were what…28?
I’m still so young and hip that I’m not really from the olden days…ahem…
Not a Perfect Mom recently posted..My Bed Through the Years….
Yes, I can tell by the flower in your hair…
My kids haven’t asked any “when you were little” type questions yet. I can’t wait to feel ancient! *sarcasm drips*
I remember my dad getting a cell phone. Like our home computer, we were the first family I knew with one. It was the size of a brick and had horrible feedback, but it was a cell phone!! We had a Mac. It was a little square box and you could make it repeat anything you types. One of my friends got in major trouble making it say bad words one day
And now I should stop talking before I all the sudden “walked uphill both ways to school”.
Stephanie recently posted..Mmmm…..Chicken Lasagna
I taught Camryn how to fold notes….she still writes notes to her friends and folds them with the little pull tab. Of course if she writes me a note she follows it up with a text asking if I got her letter.
Aw, that is adorable. Just think of how many notes we used to pass!
I still smile when people walk into CVS with actual film. We still use disposables when the girls go on field trips. I still have a few old cameras, including a Polaroid (for which I bought a ton of film before they stopped making it).
My girls are still fascinated by our record player. But what really got them was we rented a car that had manual windows. I stared at them in disbelief as they stared at the contraptions on the door in disbelief. I am failing them!
I still use the mail; I love writing letters! My oldest daughter and a friend write to one another b/c the friend was punished. Part of her punishment was no computer or phone use indefinitely (destroying their ability to email/IM one another. The horror!). When her mother called and said thank you, that the first letter was the highlight of the girl’s week? Wow. I did one thing in eleventy thousand right.
Arnebya recently posted..Wordful Wednesday: Good Endings to Pretty Ungood Beginnings
I was just lamenting that my kids will never understand why we call “rewind” rewind . . . and then the kid picked up a digital camera and said “hello” into it. Because, in his world, cameras and phones are one & the same.
Seriously – the world is a very, very different place from where I grew up . . . it’s to the point where I, honestly, can’t fathom a not having the Internet about. I read 11-22-63 and was in a constant “why can’t you just Google it?” state — until I remembered, oh yeah, they’re in an age well before Google.
John recently posted..Where I pull out the crock pot to make dinner (and talk about boobs, of course)
ADORABLE that he said hello to the camera!
Your kids really say “the olden days?” Ha! Awesome.
I loved picking up my pictures from the drugstore and the anticipation of opening up the envelope to see the pictures. I wrote a lot of letters when I was growing up. Given that everything is instant these days, I’m kind of sad that my kids won’t experience the same sort of little surprises in their every day lives. They are most surprised by how I lived without cell phones, computers, YouTube and on-demand videos. How did we ever survive??
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf recently posted..Scenes From My Weekend – Easter
I miss taking film to the drug store or Wal Mart. *sigh* However, my kids are completely shocked I had color tv with no remote and had a microwave. The tv may have served as a dresser, too, I can’t really recall.
Paulettle recently posted..Daddy Daughter Day & Ear Piercing
My kids are fascinated by “the olden days”. They are always shocked that there was no Wii and only 3 channels. “What did you watch when you got home from school???” Uh…Sesame Street until I was old enough for General Hospital?
Tiffany recently posted..Spring Break Break
Laughing because I pretty much transitioned directly in General Hospital too.
This. is. Hilarious.
And a priceless conversation. And your girls as hopping bunnies? LOVE. The middle cutie….swoon!
Nicole @MTDLBlog recently posted..Blog Idol Interviews: Blogging as a Business {Girls Lunch Out}
They were very good sports. I may have bribed them with iTune cards to sport ears.
Hi there,
Really nice pictures. Loved ‘em.
Ha ha! We moved every single year when I was a kid. Not only do I have hundreds — HUNDREDS — of snail-mail letters saved, I have them saved in an empty MANUAL TYPEWRITER CASE. Extra-Ludditey!
The thing that amazes my oldest the most about the olden days is the concept of child labor — that is, that I started working when I was his age (12). I guess that’s not the done thing anymore? And on my side of things, I can’t imagine him being mature enough to hold down a job, although he’s probably really no more childish than I was at that age.
Jadzia@Toddlerisms recently posted..In Which Secondo Channels Judge Judy: A Scene From the Dinner Table
Though not the point of this post, I am most intruiged by your moving philosophy. Ryan and I live very close to where we both grew up, and we have many moments of wishing we would have moved. There are so many great places out there. But now we are so torn with the kids and their relationship with their grandparents and other family members…sigh…
angela recently posted..Uncoordinated
Love this, and yes – film! I so remember film! And how exciting were free doubles?
(I moved around a lot, too. Nit sure how I feel about it now.)
Galit Breen recently posted..First Day, Last Day
cool i do not knw wat yal are tlking bout