Beat up, Old Shoes

My sneakers. New Balance. I have had them for years. I have bought a new pair, but I always go back to the old ones. Why? They are comfortable. They fit well. Broken in shoes. I don’t want to completely replace them. I can’t throw them out. Nothing wants to be replaced with a newer model. However, I feel sorry for those shoes. They look rough. They have been though a lot. I can’t admit that those shoes are old, because then I have to admit that I have gotten older with them.


Having children in my life is a constant reminder of how old I have gotten. Have you seen the clothes they wear? Sometimes I look at kids and I ask ‘what in the world does she have on?” I was a child of the legwarmers, big Hair, Miami Vice, Walkmans, and neon colors, so I can’t really say much. I don’t understand behavior and attitudes either. Did that kid just call me ma’am? When did I become “shorty”? And why are leg warmers coming back into style!!??

Kids ‘speak’ has gotten me baffled. I have to have an interpreter sometimes to figure out what they are saying. I would never say ‘huh, what or yea’ to my parents. I had manners. I said thank you, yes and please. You are not allowed to spank your kids without the neighbors calling DSS or Child Services. A quick pop and you are sitting in the back of the ‘Po-Po’ cruiser nowadays. My mother had the fastest right hand in the south and she used it well. Trust me. I know. For real. I still have aftershocks thinking about it and the sting it had on my upper thigh. (quivers) I never figured out how she was able to hit me in the BACK seat while she was driving. I am still working on that. The worst thing I did was rolling my eyes. Yes, I suck my teeth and roll my eyes. I still do it, so I have learned nothing. Sorry Mom.


I didn’t call my teachers by their first names.  I didn’t do half the things they do now and I did a lot of …umm... stuff. I did not have Internet to aid in my mischief and I wonder how in the world we made it without cell phones, 3G downloads and GPS.  I had to pull over and find a payphone to call home. Haha. The girls asked me what that was. A PAYPHONE. You pay to use it. Duh! They were mortified at the thought.


Another example of my oldness: Transformers, the movie. Good flicks. It was a cartoon back in the day. Watched it on Saturday mornings. Took the girls to see it the movie theater. They loved it. They talked all the way home about it. I mentioned the cartoon. “What?” they ask “It was a cartoon before it was a movie?” Yikes. G.I. Joe was too. So was X-men.  That was an hour-long conversation. I was exhausted explaining how old I was.


I thought I was ‘hip’; instead it was my hip that popped. I thought I was ‘with it’ when it looks like I am without. I thought I was keeping up with technology and being tech-y: Heck. I have an MP3 player and a cool Cell Phone with Internet and all that crap. I have a Skype Account! But the kids teach me new things every day.  I have to wonder. Hmmm… “Am I really (gasp) OLD?”


I realize I am now dying my hair to hide the gray instead of hiding my true hair color. I need 8 hours of sleep instead of 4 or 5.  No more staying up all night and getting up at the crack of dawn. I take vitamins. I worry about my Blood pressure and wrinkles on my forehead. Yes, I am old. But I am not replacing those shoes!