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?
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
The mention of phones made me remember how very, very much I wanted my own 'Princess phone'. Of course, we were a one-phone family, so no go on that! But when I got an apartment after nsg school, I got a red Princess phone and kept it until I got married 19 years later.
Wonderful thread, ixchel, thank you! I am a big history buff and I love to hear stories from the past. I have really enjoyed all of the great stories and memories... Keep sharing, guys!
Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
I just thought of another one, Teddy Ruxpin (sp?), creepy little teddy bear that told you stories. My teen beat posters were of JTT from Home Improvement lol. I was a senior in high school, sitting in first aid class when 9/11 happened and I remember not initially realizing the seriousness of it until a lot of my friends were freaking out thinking they'd reinstate the draft.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
9/11/01, I had the day off and slept late. A CG working on the same PD case I was on called me. She had an awful habit of calling and gossiping and she annoyed me greatly. I tried to get off the phone as quickly as possible. Thinking to keep me on the line a little longer she said to me, "Isn't it awful about those people in New York!?!" I made some noises like yes, it really was awful, and excuse me but my other phone is ringing. (I had no other phone).
About thirty minutes later I got to wondering what was so awful about those people in New York, so I turned on News-At-Noon. I spent the next three hours glued to the TV watching the sequence of events over and over, totally shocked.
The next day on the front page was a very large photo taken just as the second plane hit and a big fireball erupted out the other side of the building.....and in the photo could be seen an unattached leg, from the knee down, foot still wearing the sock and tennis shoe.
It made me think that the ones who died on impact were the 'lucky ones'. All I could think of as the towers collapsed was "there goes a thousand screaming souls, rising to Heaven in the plumes of smoke.".
Like others, I want to say kudos to OP for starting this thread. It has been really terrific. I find it funny that many of the younger respondents have NO CLUE what some of us oldsters remember. But on the other hand, I have no idea about some of the things THEY recall.
I'm sure that many of us 'oldsters' remember a time back in the good 'ole days, when you knew everything about your next-door-neighbor BFF's family. I mean everything; you knew all your friend's aunts & uncles, grandparents, cousins - all their names, where they lived, family dynamics. Sheesh, you even knew what brand of coffee they bought from their favorite store. I mean tight-knit neighborhoods.
You knocked on the door just to be polite, but then you just walked in - no big thing. We used to rap on the adjoining wall to get your neighbor's attention (never used the phone) and then you borrowed something like a bar of soap, a can of soup, black thread, whatever. When you next went shopping, you returned the item. Nobody does that today, do they? I miss that.
No Stars In My Eyes
5,653 Posts
The mention of phones made me remember how very, very much I wanted my own 'Princess phone'. Of course, we were a one-phone family, so no go on that! But when I got an apartment after nsg school, I got a red Princess phone and kept it until I got married 19 years later.