We are here, now!! A good reason for us to celebrate our 50th Reunion!!

We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees, Viagra, thongs, and the PILL.
Way before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, ballpoint pens, ATM's, jet aircraft, gang bangers, speed, crank, blow, meth, or Maui Wowee.
Even before panty hose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes, breast implants, enhancements to other body parts, and before something as crazy as men walking on the moon!

We got married, first, and then lived together! Egad! How quaint can one be? In our time closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of". Bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagens. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

We thought fast food was what you ate during lent, and Outer Space was the back of the Burien Theatre. We were before house husbands, desperate house wives, gay rights, computers, computer dating (of course), dual careers, hippies, beatniks, Bohemians, Yuppies, Dinks (Double Income, No Kids), and same sex couples having kids?? No one had heard of day-care centers, group therapy, and nursing homes (where retired nurses live?, where mothers go to feed their babies?). We had radios made mostly from wood, had never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, CD's, DVD's, yogurt, guys wearing ear rings, or nose rings, or lip rings, or eye brow rings, or navel rings (ouch), or bathing suits for girls made from cloth the size of a handkerchief, or magazines (in vivid color) picturing these same girls in full page displays, explaining that they were all majoring in nuclear physics at USC or UCLA.

For us, time-sharing meant togetherness…not computers or condominiums. A chip meant a piece of wood. Hardware meant hardware, like at the hardware store! And, software wasn't even a word. Passwords were used only at after-hours clubs. Most stores and all bars were closed on Sundays. You could party to as late as midnight! Not on Sunday, though.

Back then, "Made in Japan" meant junk, and the term "making out" also referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. Fast food referred to edible items you could prepare quickly. We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 cent stores, where you actually bought things for five and ten cents. Soda shops sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime. A big, genuine banana split cost between 30 and 35 cents. For one nickel you could ride a streetcar, make a phone call, buy a Coca Cola, or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy coupe for $600…but who could afford one? A pity, too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon - 19 cents in 1951! It was 10 cents in 1938! And, who ever heard of a "pre-owned" car?

In 1938 a new house cost about $3,900. In southern California that's a monthly mortgage payment! Average income was $1,731 per year (not month). Average rent was $27 per month. Tuition to Harvard University was $420 per year. If your kid attends there, now, and rents with three other students, his share is $420 per month.

In our day, there were no such things as "recreational drugs". Recreation meant something like vacation, and everyone knew drugs were purchased from the pharmacist. GRASS was mowed (not smoked), COKE was a cold drink, SPEED was something you shouldn't do when driving your car, and POT was something you cooked in. ROCK MUSIC was a Grandma's lullaby, and AIDS were helpers in the Principal's office, and MY SPACE was where I kept my clean underwear and socks. We were certainly not born before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely born before sex changes were introduced. We made do with what we had. And, lastly, we were the last generation who were so dumb to think you needed a husband to have a baby!

It's no wonder we are so confused and that younger folks blame us for such a generation gap!

Yet, here we are! And, we're about to celebrate our 50-year (Golden) reunion after high school graduation! God bless all our classmates, here and not here, and their families!