I'm sure everyone says this at one time or another.

"I'm sure glad I grew up when I did".

Thinking that now myself,lol.

Wasn't life "easier" in the 70's? Guess it depends on how old you were at the time. The 70's had a crisis or two. Or three.

I remember the gas shortage. Sitting in the Rambler station wagon in long lines on certain days to get gas. But that was FUN...when you were a kid!

I remember the drought here in CA. (It's the 70's again right now) We had to not run the water while brushing teeth and be careful about flushing the toilet.

But,for the most part,life was grand. 

I had 2 parents. My real ones. Until death did them part. How many kids can say that today?

My mother was a "stay at home" mom. She made our lunches,took us to and from school, had dinner ready for us at 5:00 when dad came home. All bought from Lucky's market right on the corner. "Wal-Mart" was not a word yet,lol.

I lived in a brand new house that my father built right before I was born. It cost $20,000.

The price of a car now.

But that was normal for then. We were just normal MIDDLE CLASS folk. Does that even exist anymore? 

With all these foreclosures and the rising housing market how many kids today will be able to buy a house? How many adults,even? 

In school we caught measles and chicken pox. Not deadly respiratory illnesses.

We never had to worry about another kid gunning us down.

We had "fire drills" not "lock downs".

We didn't worry about Katrina's washing our house away or nuclear plants melting down in our backyard.

And when the mothers made cupcakes for special days nobody I knew ever had a "peanut" allergy. That was unheard of.

When we came home from school we went out and rode our bikes. Roller skated with the old clamp-on wheels. Before we "graduated" and got "tennis shoe" skates, the IN thing! 

The only "screen" in the house was the 19 inch TV. (Imagine that!) Kids today practically grow up staring into a screen. I never saw a computer until high school and then that was only for the "smart" kids. 

When a friend called, we used the one phone in the house. A land line, remember those? And it was right in the middle of the house between the kitchen and dining room. I remember doing a lot of "whispering" in those days so no one could hear me. Especially when boys called! (when I was a teen)

Remember waiting for that "special" boy's phone call? Well,geese,you really had to wait. Because if he called and no one was home...well..you just had to wait until he called back.

Remember when the phone rang and you never had any idea who was calling? It was always a surprise. Sometimes welcome...sometimes not.

In the evening we'd all sit down as a family and watch a show because if you wanted to see it you had to watch exactly when it came on. Otherwise you'd miss it. And the commercials too. Which you came to know by heart. They were so LONG in those days, it seemed. Not the rat-a-tat snippets you see now assaulting you every 30 seconds. 

Sometimes there was a fight over what show to watch. But it didn't last long because there were only a few shows to choose from. Not 300 channels worth.

My GRANDMOTHER got a VCR before we did. Remember actually having to go RENT VIDEOS?

When I was in high school we learned to "type", not "text". On the old fashioned manuals. Once a week we got our chance at the electric ones. That was a good day!

When I graduated and started looking for a job I'd get the Sunday paper. The Want-Ads section was about an inch thick! There were TONS of jobs to choose from.

Now our paper is about as thick as a paper towel..the whole thing. Sad. Most job applications are online.

In the summers we'd pack up the Rambler and vacation for 2 whole weeks! 

No burglar alarm...just a push button lock in the knob. No deadbolts or security doors. The neighbor would take in the mail. 

People just felt safer in those days. No boogie men coming after you like terrorists,AIDS or ebola.

Three words kids today will grow up with along with many more horrifying ones we don't even know yet.

"Drought" and "gas shortage" sound so tame now.

"Disco" might have qualified as the most "horrifying" word we heard then,lol. (That was music to my ears but not to a lot of other people's,lol)

Gone are the days of not having to worry about walking around barefoot on the sidewalk or accidently touching your face before washing your hands. Or of not cringing when you hear someone cough or sneeze RIGHT NEXT TO YOU instead of saying "gesundheit!

Us kids of yesterday really had it made. Oh, we didn't realize it. Even if life wasn't so grand back then, I still can't imagine it being worse than it is today.

"Spoiled" is what we were.