Spring chick

I feel young. I do. I don't feel that much different than the teen girls I meet. Then I stand back and see that I'm a mom to two children and go, "Whoa! How did that happen?" But when I stand back a little further, I realize that I'm not, actually, that close to the teenagers of today. A few examples:

• As late as high school, in class we watched filmstrips in class, the sound provided by a cassette player.
• I didn't have email until graduate school.
• In high school, I wrote my reports on a typewriter (electric at least, no manual).
• My first cell phone was in graduate school. I got it via a special plan through my father's work, and I had 45 minutes of talk time per month.
• I still find myself referring to a keyboard (the musical instrument) as a "synthesizer"
• When I was four years old, I was one of the kids on Romper Room for a week.
• I watched a Ronald Reagan/Jimmy Carter debate on TV.
• Our first VHS had a plug-in remote--that is, the remote was connected to the VHS by a long cord.
• I remember the Challenger explosion.
• I never thought the wall would come down.
• I saw Goonies in the theater three times.
• I remember when Nerds candy first hit the market--it was exciting!
• I stayed up late one Friday night with my older sister and watched the original broadcast of "Thriller."
• I grew up terrified of Soviets invading, of nuclear bombs, and was sure Red Dawn would happen in my town.
• My mother dressed me and my sisters in matching, bright green, bell bottom jumpsuits.
• I think I voted for Gary Hart in the first primaries held after I was old enough to vote. That was pre-scandal, I'm pretty sure.
• The first computer my family owned was an Apple IIe, and the monitor was monotone--green. I loved that machine. That was where I first started to write books.

So, I'm old? Or something? Oldish. Naw, I'm still sassy and young. Ignore the facts! You just can't deny how you feel.