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?
Perms. I really wanted a "spiral" perm, but my perms never turned out good.
My first famous crush was Michael Jackson. I LOVED him. I had a Michael Jackson notebook, wallet, pins, etc..... I remember trading Duran Duran pictures for Michael Jackson pictures in the 5th grade.
Me too, on both! I chased perms until high school and after that finally gave up on getting my straight hair into perfect spirals.
And Michael Jackson.....I had the Human Nature poster on my wall, and a Michael Jackson doll with the Human Nature outfit, and remember that shimmery military-style coat he had? My doll had black pants and that coat in red and blue.
One thing I forgot was my dad's reel-to-reel tape player. I remember the big cans and the smell of the tapes. I also remember poking my preschooler fingers through the foam in his huge speakers. His tapes were almost all Doors albums.
I remember what a huge deal it was when he bought the Encyclopedia Britannica. I forget which year, but we had those for at least fifteen years.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Oh to have a nice set of bound-paper encyclopedias, and please bring back the reference cards that made cross-referencing so easy and fun at the library!
ixchel
4,547 Posts
I'm pm'ing you ☺ï¸