When I was your age....

While I'm going to be posting twice today (since it's past midnight) - I wanted to bring up a conversation that Kenny & I had the other day!

Remember the long running joke that grandparents were supposed to say?

"Well, when I was your age I had to walk up a hill barefoot in snow, both ways!"

Now of course, joke is the word because one, it's Texas (or Louisiana) and it snows ... ummm...close to never - but I'm not going to say NEVER! And two, because you can't walk up both ways...ok, I knew you knew that..it's just for my fellow...well, I'm not blonde!

Anyway - our question was...

What will we say to our children when they are born & grow up?

Honestly, our children (when we have them...um, in a LONG time from now) are going to grow up where social media is the real deal. They are born with a blue tooth in their ear, have a facebook account prior to birth, and expect Disney HD/3D before the age of 2! Our 'when I was your age' statements are going to be...

· I had to dial a phone, and if you weren't home...you didn't get the phone call!

· I had to rewind a tape, it took 3 minutes!

· I didn't get my cell phone until I was 23! *Lida only!

· Facebook didn't EXIST

· We had to read books....(this is a sad reality, but it might be true! I love, love, love books...but I do read monitors most of my life!

· My first computer didn't have windows, word, adobe, or internet!

· My third computer had dial up internet, and we heard the dial tone.

· My first phone didn't have internet....or apps, or anything except a keypad!

· I had to pay cash at the gas station

· Our privilege at school was going to the Apple Lab and playing games

· We had to write on chalk boards

· We had overhead projectors

· Heck, we had to write our notes!

The list of course goes on and on...but isn't it a little sad to you? That our children will never experience NOT living in a socially driven society? Well, that opens a HUGE can of worms...but my thoughts are

...I want my children to grow up reading books, understanding the value of personal relationships (not on the phone or on a monitor), and feeling as though they have to work for what they get.

Sure, we make our lives the way we want, but I'll never forget the conversations I had with my grandmother about her childhood - the typewriter papers that I created in the fifth grade - and the value of spending time with my friends in the summer, outside in the heat!

We need to see the seasons in person (well, if you live in a place with seasons) - not because your screen saver changed... or carving a pumpkin during this time of the year, or savoring a moment with your family and friends.

Be sure not to miss out on the REALness in life; take a break from the monitor and LIVE it out loud!