When I go through the check-out at the local grocery store, the clerk reminds me that Tuesday is "Senior's Day"!

Young people don't phone each other as much - they do more texting...and even if in the same room they prefer to text each other rather than talk to each other.  I watch with amusement and some sadness as my nieces and nephews do this.

It seemed to me that a big change happened when people got a second TV.  Once upon a time the TV was in the room where everybody gathered.  Everybody watched the same program - or read the paper or did the ironing, if they weren't interested in the show.  Now the whole family can be off in different rooms - dad watching sports, mom watching a talk show, sis texting, and bo playing Wii.  Lucky to get together for meals.

Meals - they were family affairs.  Everybody gathered at the table, and ate the same food.  At my daughter's place it doesn't seem unusual for the girl to fix her own vegetarian meal and eat before dad gets home from work - she has dance at 6:00.  The boy is a picky eater - no sauce on his spagetti, no gravy on his meat, no casseroles.  Often Mom prepares him a separate meal.  And Dad takes a nap before the meal is on the table, and says 'I'll grab a bit later'.  It would drive me mad.  When do they have family time?

Church - families used to go together - or meet up and sit together.  Now it is so unusual people comment if they see an entire three generation family sitting together. 

Thos are things I notice about the younger generation.

For me and Seelerman - we are both slowing down.  We don't put off things.  If we are ever going to do something we'd better do it now.  We've taken up square dancing this fall.  We take trips. 

We don't buy more furniture.  The diningroom set we've had for thirty years will see us out. 

I buy clothes for comfort and ease.  I just bought a pair of walking shoes that have velco instead of laces.  My next bra may be front closing. 

We take more pills and visit the doctor more frequently - and are more conscious of what we eat. 

Most evenings we'd rather just stay home and watch TV.   Daytime activities are more appealing. 

We don't have pets who might outlive us.  Visits from our granddog take the place of pets in the home.

I appreciate little kindnesses - people holding doors for me, giving me a seat in a waiting area, offering to carry my soup to the table in the church hall, or my groceries out to the car.  I don't feel 'I need to do it myself', even when I can.   

My heels are lower.

Am I old enough to participate?

When your groceries were bagged, there was usually someone who offered to carry them to your car.  I think I was right near the cutoff for that.  I remember grabbing groceries for my parents or for a special event with friends when that was still offered.

Places are open later, especially on Sundays.

Methods of payment have changed.  I remember when interact was new.  Cheques are now used to pay people for the most part, and not businesses.

I'm curious if the schools still have the 'book fairs'.  The catalogues where you would order pleasure reading books from.  I wouldn't be surprised if those are no longer done.

I think my generation has seen some interesting changes.  I remember a time when most people didn't have a computer in their house.  The internet was only for a few computer geeks.  Then for a while most families had one computer, and slowly the internet became more popular.  During that time, chat rooms were popular I don't think there are too many of those any more.  Now, we have more computers than people (and it's pretty standard for my age group).  Between chemguy and I we have 2 work laptops that we don't own, we each have a personal laptop and he has a desktop.

I remember my mom hating cell phones and saying that she would never own them  They were only for people 'who thought they were more important than they actually are'.  She's not very good at doing more than the very basics with hers, but she likes having it at times!  My parents even got one for my grandparents.

Chemgal, you'll be glad to hear that book fairs still happen. Some schools, instead of (or, perhaps, in addition to) doing book fairs send out catalogues every couple of months for book orders.

Now . . . don't get me wrong . . . I love hugging . . . and being hugged!

But what I've notice is that everyone is hugging everyong . . . most noticeable on tv.  Again, I love hugging, but it seems to me to have lost a little bit of it's special meaning. 

One of my friends pointed out that the expression "I love you" used to have deep meaning but now is used like "Bye - See Ya".

I admit I was a bit nonplussed when a grandchild's friend, who I had just met,  said as he wondered off "Bye Mrs.......  Love Ya"  I hadn't realised that it was now a common saying .

Do you remember how people stopped, men removed their hats until the hearse and funeral prosession drove by. It was done out of respect whether one knew them or not.

Fake panhandlers... young people who are dressed better than me and they carry cellphones.  They are neither poor or addicted, just out to suppliment their income.

People who smoke but don't want to have the expense of it go around all day asking if you have a spare smoke.  I no longer do but they ask because I like to sit outside coffee shops, etc.  so they assume I must.

Elderly standing on the bus...never happened when I was young. 

Spitting on the street.

People who feel it's their right to spark up a joint whenever they feel like it.  I hate that smell!

P.S. I'm only 48 so I've been young most of my life, just started getting older recently. 

And some good things...designated drivers in young crowds (yay!).  A growing awareness of the inequalities toward women.  Men are becoming better daddies and less workaholic.  And let's all have a moment of grateful silence for self cleaning ovens and frost free refrigerators!!

Penny, you reminded me of this story.  A group of young women entered a room where the hostess Grandmother was sitting quietly.  They wwere discussing which modern appliance they appreciated most or couldn't get along without - microwave, self-cleaning oven, central vac.  Then the young women noticed her grandmother.  "Grannie, I imagine things have changed since you were young and setting up housekeeping.  What labour saving device did you appreciate most back then?"  Grannie didn't have to think long before she answered, "Running water."  

I can remember when one of my grandmother's carried water from a spring on the farm, and the other had a hand pump in the summer kitchen and I learned to always save a dipper of water to 'prime the pump'.

I used to be impatient with the senior poking inside their change purse at the checkout. Found myself doing just that recently to find exact change. Scary.
Also, I'm in shock about how much everything costs (how did peanut butter get to be $6 a jar?) & how much money gets thrown away on nothing.
I feel just like the curmudgeons of yore!

I stood behind a a couple (maybe 35ish) at the local grocery store while they unloaded their cart.  They bought chips, pop, Cheezies, suckers,  three boxes of sugar coated cereal, six bags of frozen fries and some granola bars that looked no different from candy bars.  The bill was a few dollars over $300 - and they still didn't have anything to eat!

Maybe I'm turning into my mother?

Murder mysteries on TV were entertaining and most times didn't show one drop of blood (Hitchcock's skills)

Parents /adultswere less controlling and more trusting, more freedom for kids to become responsible.

(In my highschool, after grade 9, you would write your own notes for missed school days.)

No advertising on TV, very little on radio.

mrs.anteater - no advertizement on TV?  Where, when, what channel?   When TV first came to our village in 1952 or '53, advertizing was one of the things we noticed.  I remember the unvailing of the new cars, and school children learned to identify cars by their year and model - tail fins, two-tone (and with a strip of a third colour), hard-top convertibles.  And I can still sing the Simon cigar song:

Simon makes the Statesman,

and Pandora,

El producto, too

There's a Simon cigar just right for you.

Yeah, I remember tobacco ads during prime time. 

The Disney channel used to have no advertising on it, unless you count previews for other shows.  I don't watch it anymore, I'm not even sure if it still exists.  I wouldn't be surprised if Treehouse (if that's cable) doesn't show advertisements now.

People get "bored" these days.

Art has been superceded by "entertainment". 

People seem greedier and less appreciative. They certanly seem fatter, ruder and lazier.

Smoking has become "bad" while recreational psychoactive drugs have become "cool". And prescription drugs have been essential.

Everyone seems to have allergies.

It's harder to see the night sky.

Despite it all, it's a whole lot easier to see beauty and abundance everywhere and feel much more deeply appreciative and joyful about it.

language seems filled with more cursing -everywhere.

We don't say/hear certain racial words anymore...  eenie, meanie, miney, moe, catcha .... has been exchanged for tiger or something.  Good move! 

No more bra commercials

No more women riding horses in white slacks type of commercials...ahem!

People are refraining from smoking around children eg. schools and parks.  They will move to where they won't be seen.  I know people who smoke but don't want their kids to know!  No one hid it when I was young.  I don't see elementary school kids smoking.

No one calls the local radio station to request a song. 

I don't think cereal boxes come with prizes anymore.

Squirrel: driving through a small community on Southeast Ontario — Codrington — the other day, I saw set up on a lawn several Huck Finn-era black sterotype figures with straw hats and fishing poles... the age of idiotic racial stereotyping and ridicule is not over yet!

Ah man!  Politically AND fashionably stupid?

I never had new clothes growing up and neither did most of my friends. We had older sisters and we were always stuck with the "hand me downs", from bras to bicycles.

We didn't think about getting breast implants when we were younger, we'd just rely on Kleenex.

Telephone numbers were very short and included letters. Operators were needed for long distance calls.

Getting caught chewing gum in school used to be one of the worst things you were sent to the principals office for, now it's carrying a gun or bullying the teacher.

I heard a grandmother recently bemoaning the changes in the living expectations of the youner generation.  Her grandaughter was heading off to the city for university.  Grandmother had visions of a modest room or a shared basement or maybe living in student housing of some sort..  Kids getting around on bikes or buses.

Nope - grandaughter wanted a 'proper ' apartment in a building with a pool and security plus underground parking.  A full aprtment was a ncessity, she claimed, or she would't have space for all her stuff - the big screen tv, the microwave, the conputer and printer etc.

When I went to the city I rented a room in a clean family home with a shared bathroom.  $35 a month.  Lots of room for the little bit of stuff I owned - basic clothing and a few books,  No tv, no bike, no car and life was good,  I think the other grandmother was thinking times hadn't changed.  Surely though, all the kids don't start off with all the luxuries of life?

One of a sad things I notice about aging is that my family and friends are getting old. 

This was brought home to me again last evening.  My husband's brother came to visit from a neighbouring city.  Seelerman met his bus.  He got off with a cane and hobbled over.  He told us that he uses a walker at home now.   He doesn't enjoy watching TV because he can neither see or hear well enough to follow the program - or a conversation for that matter. 

Today will be a difficult day for him.  At his request they are going out on to the village where they grew up.  He pictures visiting the old sites, stopping to talk to  people he used to know -- perhaps dropping in on someone for a cup of tea.  Seelerman can't make him understand.  The old house that stood vacant, but waiting for them, has been sold and moved to another location.  The property is grown up in weeds and brush as the forest reclaims it.  The same with the lumberyard where they worked as teenagers.  The mill is closed now.  The station boarded up.  Trains whistle and they fly by where they used to stop.  The school closed this year, the few children now are bussed.  And the people he used to know - gone.  Dead or moved.   Their houses occupied by grown children or grandchildren, or strangers - or vacant and tumbling down.

I'll have chicken stew ready when they return - he can only eat soft foods.  He will be sad - Seelerman too.

And he is only a few years older than Seelerman.  Getting old sucks at times.

Many echo your sentiment, seeler.

Seeler, I have to correct myself: NO advertising between shows, movies etc. Of course there was ads sometimes. German TV was and I think still is subject to a charge. They have (or used to have) vans rolling around with antennaes to check if you watch TV without paying. Therefore, the main channels don't need that much advertising to survive.

I was watching the movie "Grease" the other night on the telly, and when the scene came on with Sandy and Danny at the Drive-Inn movie, I chuckled at the drive-inn advertisement for the food counter that used to run at the Drive-Inn with the countdown to the starting of the movie - particularly the hot dog that jumps into the bun.  I remember watching this many times at the drive-inn theatre :)

I hope there was a bright spot for your bil, Seeler...maybe he and Seelerman will share some good memories as they drive around.  And yes, getting old does suck sometimes!

Playing with your friends used to mean going to their house (or them coming to yours). Now it means playing a game together on Steam or XBox Live while talking on Skype. Which is what Little M is doing as I type this.

Mendalla

IIRC, Corus has committed to keeping Treehouse an ad-free zone. Not sure about Family (the Canadian Disney Channel). I think it has ads but they also have a service for younger kids similar to Treehouse which is, I believe, ad-free.

Mendalla

Family Channel!  That's what it was called, thanks Mendalla.  So that still exists?

The safety criteria has definitely changed.  I think my relatives still have those pointed end lawn darts around somewhere, we weren't allowed to use them when we were kids, they were for the adults only and we had to stay a good distance away.

We no longer have to wait one hour after eating before we can go swimming.

This was always the rule when I was growing up (you could get stomach cramps, they said).

One of my kids claims that pointed lawn darts are a toy for kids - safe enough if you use some common sense.  For her the most dangerous item used on lawns is horseshoes - an elderly gent hit her in the head with one even though she was standing where the kids were told to stand!

Rumour has it that the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street now tells kids "Cookies are a sometimes food".

In the old days he just said "COOOO - KEEES".

(Hi Paradox3, nice to see you :)

Old age is not for sissies, as the saying goes.

Good to "see" you too, Beloved.

As I expected, bil was quite disappointed about his trip.  He kept reepeating over and over how everything has changed - everything has changed.  Seelerman had tried to prepare him - to let him know what to expect - but it's as though he didn't take it in - now he is telling us.  Everything has changed. 

The other problem was his lack of mobility.  He couldn't get out of the car and wander around the rough ground of the graveyard, or walk down to tracks to the trainbridge over the river where they used to play (swimming, fishing, climbing the girders) 65 years ago.   However, he did get one last visit back to his home. 

Today we will take him back to Saint John.  That is home now.  He wanted to go last evening but, another problem with age, Seelerman doesn't like to drive outside the city after dark and he was tired from the trip.

Sometimes, only in our minds and our hearts, can we revisit the places of our past, especially our youth.  I remember mouthing almost the same words when I first visited the spot where my granny's house was which had been torn down and a brand new one built in it's place - "everything has changed, it's not the same".

I hope the memories of what was, and the reminiscing about the days gone by brought some joy to both your bil and your hubbyseelerman.  I hope they enjoyed the time they spent together.  Those are the positivie things.

It is a good thing your hubbyseelerman recognizes the limitations aging has given him, especially in driving, and recognizes that he doesn't feel he should be driving outside the city after dark.  Some would not set this personal limit and take chances instead.  It sounds like your hubbyseelerman is very wise.

Aging sure beats the alternative!

Tabitha says, "Aging beats the alternative."  At one point I would have agreed wholeheartedly but now I'm not so sure.  It may, if you are healthy and mentally competent but too many old folks with physical and mental incapacities are shut away in nursing homes.  I'm sure this is not how they thought  the last part of their life would be like and I wonder if they had the choice which alternative they would choose.

Aging with health and well being isn't terribly difficult to enjoy, I guess.  One would be able to get out and about, pursue hobbies, sports  etc. 

Some people don't have that privilige though.  Some have that for a while and then finish up in a nursing home - or at home in bed with palliative care.

A friend retired two years ago and has since then developed troubling rheumatoid arthritis, activity lessening COPD, diabetes and pancreatic cancer. 

Happy Retiree and Kay - how right you are! 

Aging (and retirement) can be pleasant proviiding you and your partner enjoy good health, and I would add a reasonable amount of money.  Then a person has the time and energy to enjoy life - travel, grandchildren, gardening, arts, study, writing, volunteering, or persue a second (perhaps parttime) career doing something they want to do, rather than what they had to do to earn a living. 

But if one, or both, are suffering serious health issues (not just taking a blood pressure pill) or if they are struggling to live on OAS and supplement, having worked all their life in low paying jobs without pension plans, live can become a burden and quality can drop to below the 'life worth living' level. 

ps  Today I will attend the funeral for a friend who died of ALS.  

Thinking of you today as you attend this funeral, seeker.

Kaythecurler, that's an awful lot of illness your friend has had to endure. Must be hard for you too as you walk beside them.

True - but life IS hard sometimes.  Physical health is particularly weird I'm noticing.  Everything works fine until one thing goes wrong and then another, until the whole system is sputtering.  Mostly all I can do is listen and agree "It isn't fair!".

I'd like to mention a woman I have the privelege of knowing. Just turned 90 and is sharp as a tack. Bellydanced  at her birthday party. Pierced her nose at 89 when she lost a bet. Goes to yoga. Cooked thanksgiving dinner for other "solos" she knew.

Yes she needs an arm on the stairs if there isn't a railing.

But she is off on a trip to Africa next month.

I'd like to age as graciously as she has!

(and she has buried 2 husbands)

Tabitha - that sounds like a woman I know (especially the belly-dancing).  She's 92 now and still volunteers at the nursing home one day a week, fitting it into her busy schedule, including her boy-friend who she met at bowling in her 80s. 

Unfortunately they stopped bowling at 90 when his feet started to bother him.

I shall never forget the day I became elderly. I was visiting a boy scout camp. One of the boys approached me. he was, I suppose, 12 or13. "Sir......", he began....

I was seventeen.

lots o stuff:

when i was at my mother's side at the hospital, there were times when my uncle, my brother and sister all had their cell phones out at the same time.  they noticed this as well

talking to one's self on the street being mainstream because of bluetooth technology and cell phones

seeing my nephews play with computer stuff while they were below 6

asteroid mining

the world's first trachea transplant

stem cells

the world's first alleged quantum computer sold by a Canadian firm

miracles upon miracles, every day