Do You Remember?

Do you remember a time before cell phones, laptops and pcs? 
Okay .. so I am dating myself .. but once upon a time in the 'good ol' days' it really did exist when people sat to dinner together and had conversation.  

Do you remember when dialling long distance on a rotary phone took longer than the time we were allowed to speak to the person on the other end (dad would time us because "time is money!")
Do you remember when you had to get up to the tv if you wanted to turn it off or change the channel. 
Do you remember when microwaves first came out and our parents said not to stand in front of it while it was on so as we wouldn't be exposed to radiation?
Do you remember the communal typewriters (which at university was mine) .. when everyone took their papers to that one lucky person who had an electric typewriter and only had to hit enter for it to move to the next line rather than pushing the bar at the end of the roller?
Do you remember recording tape cassettes from the radio of all your favourite songs for roadtrips or the new love in your life?
Do you remember when cars only had wind down windows but lasted for more than 20 years?
Do you remember when polaroid cameras were the nearest thing to instant photography?
Do you remember riding a 50 cc moped in a mini skirt and having to push it up a hill because there wasn't enough power to get to the top and your skirt was too tight to pedal? (okay .. I guess this only applies to Bermudian girls)
Do you remember when the coolest kitchen gadget your mother had was a heated bag sealer for storing all of those home grown vegetables (yes we didn't always have zip lock bags!)

I guess the list is endless ... and also generation dependent ..  I could go on all night .. but will add to this from time to time .. the reason .. because I don't want to forget!  .. and I want to be able to explain these things to my son one day. 

I catch myself sometimes when chatting to my son or to Rachel at work and wonder if they have ever seen a certain gizmo that I am talking about - or know of a person to which I am referring who for our generation would have been a legend. 

Technology is changing so rapidly .. sometimes I don't even bother with trying to figure out the latest gadget because I know that by next week it will be replaced with a new one and I will still be trying to read the unbelievably non legible point zero font manual trying to find the English section amidst the 10 different languages.  Our society is such a disposable and wasteful one that objects are replaced before they are even obsolete.  One would be pressed to find a tape deck player in a car now I am sure .. let alone a record player or typewriter unless you can locate one in a very cool antique store.

Pretty scary to think that already the modern technologies we depended on 10  - 20 years ago have been relegated to the category of Antiques!!! (so what does that make me??) .. 

Geeeesh .. I didn't feel old until I started remembering .. maybe that's why we start forgetting as we get older .. so we don't realize just how old we are!

But ... I wouldn't want it any other way ... I treasure my memories.  That is why I write down so many precious moments or about my challenging times in my journals.  I want to be able to return to them and remember.  I want my son to understand me one day through adult eyes.

Our past is just as important as our future.
'Do you remember' moments help us appreciate our yesterdays.  
Remembering the past helps define who you are today. 
Remembering is how we connect with our relationships.
Remembering is how we recognize what we value.

Feel free to share your "do you remember" times, things, places and memories ... we all have them.

CPM to you.
cheers
sun