I'm a 30-something, and havent experienced much more than the general membership here, I'm sure, but I get the most amazing "stop and think about this for a second...." moments when I consider how much our world has changed over the lives of us all.
For me - I've lived without a cell phone. I was in high school when people who had pagers were considered to be drug dealers. I grew up with Oregon Trail in my teens. Most people didn't have computers at home. The mountain I lived on didn't have cable TV, so we had only 3 channels. Our roads weren't paved, and Saturday afternoons were spent jumping into the river swinging off vines. Call waiting and caller ID were a really big deal, but we didn't get them because they cost more money.
My grandma tells me they didn't have wheelchairs. She was a nurse in her white cap and skirt and tights. She had an alcoholic, abusive husband at a time when that was shameful to even mention. My grandpa tells me no one on his street had a TV. It was a really big deal when someone got one, and everyone whispered about it.
My 90-something patient told me about how so much of healthcare took place at home because you really, really had to be messed up for mom to go get the horses and carriage ready to go to the doctor. She got in big trouble once when she broke her arm falling from a tree.
What have you lived through? What pieces of history stay with you?
I saw both The Jackson 5 and The Osmond Brothers on the same day. It was Summer Fest in Milwaukee, probably 1970 as I remember my sister being a baby then. The highlight of my young life as Donny Osmond was my first crush. I had the lunch box and I wore a lot of purple [Donny's favorite color]. I was all of 5 years old. As I got a little older I veered to Rock&Roll. My first teen year concerts were Ted Nugent, Ozzie Osborn, VanHalen and BonJovi. The one I regret now is not going to see Elvis, it was late in his career and my Mom offered to take me, but I was a teenager that liked heavy metal and had no interest in seeing "that fat old man" at the time.
i remember going to disneyland when it was 21 bucks for a social ticket
i remember aol was the business and you had to go in a chatroom and enter\(plus the number) to get someone random server to send you the files for a certain cd you wanted on mp3.
i remember i could fill my suv gas tank with 15 bucks and still have enough for lunch.
i remember lager shoes with the lit up soles!
i remember going to the dentist before my first year at UCLA and seeing the 9/11 attacks
i remember my mom dropping off pizza on for me at 3am during finals week.
i remember sitting in the icu when my mom got ill, realizing i wanted to become a nurse (and telling her about it)
i remember walking down the aisle while my mom, in her last days of life watched me graduate from UCLA
i remember taking up a full time job at a bank and taking one class at a time for my pre reqs (boy oh boy was that hard) and the only thing that kept me going when i had little to no money and even less hope was the fact that i had told my mom I would be a nurse.
i remember the day i graduated nursing school and my dad cried like a kid because he was so proud that after everything i went through, I did it!
i remember the day i got married to my best friend!
now i sit here thinking about all this stuff just changed my life, i wouldn't have it any other way because its made me a tough person with heaps of compassion and a desire to never stop advancing in life.
Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
I was born in 84, I remember stirrup pants, those shirt clip things that looked like the Ghostbusters symbol, R.L. Stine books, New Kids on the block, Achey Breaky Heart, riding our bikes and playing all day, scrunchies in our high pony tails, and my elderly neighbor giving me a bottle of Navy perfume after my mom told her I had started my period. She said "now that you're a young woman you're going to stink, you need to wear this!" I was 9 and that petrified me so I'm pretty sure I practically bathed in the stuff and my mom had to hose me off outside before she would even let me in the house! Haha I also remember AOL chat rooms, thinking I was so cool talking to all the older guys, not realizing how dangerous it could've been. I also was sent to buy my parents cigarettes from the corner store.
I remember the fanfare and freaking out over Michael Jackson, and how embarrassed my 5-year old self was at seeing him grab his crotch. Oh, and Madonna.... We all wished we could be so amazing! MTV actually played music then!
Crystal Pepsi.... Was I the only one who actually liked that stuff?
Supermodels.... I feel like no one ever really paid attention to the modeling world until supermodels, and Cindy Crawford. Un-photoshopped pics of her recently came out, and it's amazing to see someone look real.
We did spend some time living in a place without plumbing. I was positive there would be a black widow waiting in an outhouse to bite my nether regions.
I remember thinking VH1 was a really lame rip off of MTV.
I used to love HBOs intro before movies, with the lights running over all those dots.
We lived in apartments that were near these woods that bordered a park. I was only allowed to play between the swing set and the dumpster, but we'd always sneak to the park. There was a stream there. Come to think of it, no matter where we lived (and we moved a lot), I always found a stream. Hours were occupied building dams and taking them down.
My mom would shout for me, too, "diiiiinnnnneeeeeerrrrrr". Guess I missed the "supper" generation. ☺ï¸
Making the mall non-smoking was a huge controversy.
The Who, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Motley Crue, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Lita Ford, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Heart, U2, Billy Joel. Elton John, Tom Petty, The Ramones, Guns n Roses, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton...omg. Can't remember the rest.
Oh, I'm getting old! You guys mention all those performers. I grew up with street corner doo wop. The REAL oldies but goodies of the '50's, early '60's.
I also remember AOL chat rooms, thinking I was so cool talking to all the older guys, not realizing how dangerous it could've been. I also was sent to buy my parents cigarettes from the corner store.
Red Kryptonite
2,212 Posts
I am so jealous.