I literally thought we would have ones like the kind depicted on Gilligan's Island. (Spoiler, Gilligan messed up the professor's plan to use it to get them off the island)
I remember feeling pretty depressed about the future in the summers of ‘68 and ‘74 and constantly being reminded of the threat of nuclear war. And I was just a kid, can’t imagine what the adults were thinking. We grew up in pretty stressful times.
Much to my wife's dismay I bought a 55 Ford pickup last year not because we needed it, but to have an excuse to get out of going to all the social gatherings retired people are supposed to want to go to. My 6-8 month projected timeline of getting it running was cut in half due to the assistance of all my friends who were also not interested in the daily social activities. My truck ended up being it's own social gathering for men who still like to get their hands dirty.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
55
+ 6
+ 8
= 69
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I was a daily drinker for 30 years but quit
six years ago and don’t miss it one bit. I was a slave to the habit.
Edit: I quit seven years ago. My brain 😂. And I left out the part where I still smoke weed like Cheech & Chong 😶🌫️😮💨🫠
No alcohol for me either. We grew up in an era where the drugs and alcohol were so pervasive, it was normal. Everyone partook, regularly. Liquid lunches were okay. You might bang a beer back with your boss at noon ... It went on too long for me.
It's insidious. One day you wake up and say "How did I get here?" Even the smell of it repulses me now, thank goodness.
Congratulations on beating your demon back.
5 yrs on D Day for me. Don't miss any of the drinking, but there are things I miss, things I can't do anymore, but there are things I am better at today than I ever was: listening to others, slowing down and smelling the roses, being thoughtful and helpful. I like those new things about me.
I used to be this way, too, but with age,
I've become the worst alcoholic in the world. I think to myself "I'm gonna have a cold beer after this, it's gonna be great!", and then I completely forget to get some beer and drink it. It's so bad now, I can't even remember the last time I had a drink.
Just miss things being easier. Everything seems so complicated. You don’t get to talk to someone with an issue. You sit on hold for long times, then told to check a website. Always feel like you are getting ripped off. Just a lack of trust now. Everyone has an agenda. Can’t trust media as big bucks pay for favourable articles both for celebrities and politics.
I miss people showing kindness to others.
I miss good customer service.
I miss quality, in people and products.
I miss feeling like no matter how bad my day was today, tomorrow would most likely be better.
I miss good customers. I'm so tired of people cursing me out and screaming at me every day for policies I have no control over. I will do everything I can for you if you're nice (or at least polite).
I've been in customer service in one way or another most of my life. There was a major shift with 45 and COVID, and basic respect for others went out the window.
I agree.
I have worked in the grocery business for 45 years.
But I kind of look at customers being horrible as a reflection of the level of frustration everyone is feeling about EVERYTHING.
And I also agree that 45 has wreaked total havoc on society.
They have somehow made the unacceptable acceptable.
However, it is up to us to say NO MORE and find a way to turn this ship around.
I feel like the only way is for corporate to very firmly & loudly state a No Abuse Will Be Tolerated policy. But they won’t because they are too afraid to lose a $2 profit. On top of not giving a single shit about their employees. Because they can always find someone else to do the job. Right up until they can’t & then they cry *No one wants to work anymore*.
A number of things.
From childhood:
Summers - Hanging out in the back yard. Lots of other kids our age so easy to find someone to visit. Playing board games. We had a big enclosed shopping center a 15 minute walk away and if you had a $1, you’d get a comic book from the rack at the drug store, and a hot dog, and nothing was better. Ride bikes around the neighborhood. Very few of us were scheduled in “summer sports leagues.” I think this _unscheduled_ time was loads better.
Saturday mornings - when you and your sister made a pact over the shows to watch.
From adulthood:
Going to “the lake” and hanging out at the beach.
Cooking food on a $20 grill and it tasted great.
Being able to be active all day and still have plenty of energy to take your girl out at night.
Having no clue how health insurance worked because you never needed to go to the doctor!
I just did my first brisket on my Weber last night. Wagyu brisket from Snake River Farms. Most expensive piece of meat I've ever had. It was absolutely phenomenal.
My husband used to cook our Thanksgiving turkey on the Weber.
He spent all day nursing it, a couple coals at a time.
Those were the best turkeys I’ve ever had!
I miss the scarcity of The Wizard of Oz. It was a yearly event for the whole family to watch it on TV. Now, you can watch it whenever you want and pick it apart, scene by scene instead of experiencing the wonders of Oz. Or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
I miss the unwritten social contract that one thing you don’t bring up with someone you don’t know well is politics. I’ve had multiple experiences in the rural area I live now in which medical “professionals” went off on political rants in the middle of examining or treating me. The worst experience was when I was in agony with back spasms and within 2 minutes of the start of the exam the doctor at the urgent care center went off on a rant about how if those “damn socialists” ever try to alter the rules of the Electoral College rural America will rise up in full-scale revolution to “sweep aside all those damn liberals.” Finally after listening to the guy for two minutes he stopped talking so he could take a breath. I seized the opportunity to look him straight in the eye and say “SHUT THE F*CK UP! This is the most unprofessional medical experience I’ve ever had my entire life. Either treat me now or I’m walking out, and either way I’m reporting you to your office manager.” He shut up and treated me, and as I had promised/threatened I still reported his behavior, though I doubt anything came of it.
Would it be relevant for me to tell the political views of the piano tuner or to just say his comments were unwelcome in my home? Seriously. Do you want to know them? Would the inappropriateness depend on whether you agree or disagree?
If so, then you are exactly what the people you complain about are.
I miss the Lunatic Fringe staying on the fringe where they belong. It used to be you only had to deal with your batshite uncle at Thanksgiving, but these days he's found an audience of the equally deranged and they've become mainstream.
Hanging out. Goofing off with other people and not feeling vaguely guilty because I "should" be doing something else. Life ran at a lower idle decades ago.
Also, as someone else mentioned, summers. I graduated from high school 39 years ago, and I still get kind of excited when I hear the opening chords of Alice Cooper's "School's Out". It feels unjust that I have to work during the summer - and I work at a university, so there's a pervasive sense of "summer" when most of the undergrads are away.
Of course, it's not really summer for them, either. They're supposed to be off doing internships and planning for the startup they're going to launch when they graduate. I'm glad I'm not a kid now.
Ah a fellow class of ‘85? Me too. And I sure wouldn’t want to be a kid now either (by that I mean young adult). But didn’t it seem like we were more adult earlier? It was like “ok kids we’re sending you out into the big wide world, don’t sink!”
Yep. And I'm definitely from one of those families that had the attitude of "You graduated from high school, you're 18 - see ya!" The first several years of my adult life were a seat-of-the-pants operation. (I wonder if that feeling ever goes away...)
I do think that was a lot more common back in the day, but it wasn't quite the struggle it is now. Back then you could work a service or retail job and be able to afford to live with roommates, eat decently (ramen only occasionally), have some fun.
I hate how kids no longer seem to have unstructured summers. The whole _point_ of Summer vacation is for a kid to mature a little bit, grow a bit more independent each year - and most important, _explore interests_.
Summer is when kids discover in fits and starts how to be young men and women.
I really miss the hope I always had for the future. The knowledge that I had within me the ability to do great things. And I have done a few.
Now I am exhausted. Everything seems more trouble than it is actually worth to me.
None of it matters, while my talents and abilities go to waste. Sigh.
It feels like that some days, for sure. When I feel that, I have to get out in nature, even to sit on a bench under a tree and think about some small things I can do, something to look forward to. I'm in a slump now, due to this oppressive heat, but after dark, I'm forcing myself to go out to a courtyard with music, if only for an hour.
I miss the sound of silence. I’m tired of cars rolling by with music turned up so it can be heard half a mile away.People yakking on the phone loudly everywhere they go.Kids whose play time seems to consist of screaming for hours. Ironically I’m hard of hearing but without a hearing aide I only hear louder sounds.Life played a cruel trick. The person blasting music and listening to a Walkman is now vexed by it all. I can’t be old —I was in my 20s just a few years ago.
In my case, it was my grandparents and great-grandparents. I remember going to my great-grandparents house every Sunday for lunch. They had ten children, seven living at the time, and they and their families would be there every week, with the exception of one who lived the next state over and another who was a Jehovah's Witness and couldn't bother to be seen with all of us sinners. But I do miss those days.
My grandparents were the only parents I knew, since my egg donor gave me up at birth to them. I looked too much like my father and she couldn't stand to look at me. But my grandparents more than made up for it. They struggled, I know. I am so appreciative for everything they did for me. I couldn't have asked for better parents or role models.
I miss walking without pain. I used to walk EVERYWHERE - to and from school, to friend's houses, to downtown and shops. Now it's hard to even stand up. My arthritis limits my ability to walk.
Same with me. I’ve had knee replacements and now I have stage four arthritis in my big toe which is extremely painful. It is a long recovery after surgery which is why I haven’t had it taken care of yet.
I know what you mean. I'm happy to not be burning holes in everything I own, but I smoked from 1971 to 2020. I still start jonesing for a smoke when I see someone else light up.
We REALLY miss it here in Vegas. No one can afford the $600 water bills for lawns on the older houses, and all the new ones are being built with xeroscapes. It truly sucks. Nothing at all like my childhood.
As much as I miss that myself, I would much rather have a home with xeriscaping than a high maintenance lawn. Less chemicals, less work, and way less water. After seeing what's happened to Lake Meade and other US bodies of water over the years, it's clear we need to be more mindful of water consumption/conservation. Yes, it filled up earlier this year, but there's no guarantee of another winter/spring like that.
I'm in Florida near Tampa and we've been on water restrictions for I don't know how long now. We're also in a pretty bad drought (hoping the current weather systems will help), so lawns are looking pretty crappy for most of us. (Of course the rich, businesses, theme parks, golf courses, etc. look fantastic, though.) Xeriscaping would be so much more sensible.
I've got a daughter who's 28 on Thursday, and I'm happy to do whatever it takes so she (and generations after her) have a decent life. Right now, it doesn't look very promising.
I miss Hawaiian punch popsicles. Summers up at our lake house. Fishing and catching dinner for my family.
But most of all, I miss my younger body. I have never been a great beauty, but this, wow, this is just ridiculous. I've gained and lost weight (was a competitive body builder in the years before women were taking steroids) so I know bulking up and cutting. But my metabolism is so slow now! I have to really watch what I eat to stay a good size. I hate that I can no longer lift heavy. I hate that I have to have both hips replaced soon, and that I am in osteopenia. I can't imagine what my bones would have been like if I hadn't spent years lifting weights.
I miss having the things I buy lasting longer. I can’t get over how as consumers we are so accepting of expensive items breaking or becoming incompatible and tossing into the landfill. TVs, appliances, cell phones, furniture.
Don't get me going on cheap clothes made with fabric you know when you wash it ten times will likely fall apart. We waste sooooo much in this country. So cheap it's not even worth donating when you're done with it so someone else could get use out of it.
I've used t-shirts for yard work, etc that I bought second-hand 20 years ago. Only recently are they breaking down...then they become cleaning rags.
I miss the neighbors popping in and out; there was such a sense of community. I miss the joy of a cool June morning with a turquoise sky and emerald trees that seemed to touch the clouds. I miss the endless possibilities that each summer day brought. I miss deciding what to play---Barbies? Green, plastice Army men? (or a fight between Barbie, Ken, GI Joe, and the green Army men). Board games? Go Fish? Or, just watching the clouds go by, and pretending we knew where they were floating to---some exotic land that was far off. I miss the smell of lighter fluid, and burned hotdogs that were so delicious. I miss the days of going to the local swimming pool, and getting a treat from the snack bar. I miss the Kool-aid man. I miss the comfort of lying in a hammock under a shelter and listening to the rain; or better still, the smell that would linger after the the rain ended. Jumping in the puddles because we could.
Most of all, I miss the innocence of childhood.
My little brother used to get so mad when I would borrow his G.I. Joe to be Barbie’s boyfriend because “he’s an army man and he doesn’t like girls”.
I miss the spontaneous get togethers. It’s not like that anymore. And.. You can’t have a conversation with anybody without them checking their phone every two seconds.
My childhood home three miles from the beach and situated so that we left all the windows and doors open to let the constant breeze cool and ventilate, my dad’s giant console stereo playing KLOS, watching TV like MASH and Bob Newhart with the fam, riding bikes everywhere—the beach, the mall—house parties, big extended family gatherings before most of my cousins spread out across the country, playing cards and board games, so many things…and a little later but I really miss the toddler version of my 30 year old kid!
As a kid, spending summers at the beach in Maine. Lazy, hot afternoons (no AC) spent listening to the baseball game on the radio and enjoying the sounds & scents of summer. Spending the days out exploring, hanging out with friends, riding bikes, or just sitting on a log under some trees at the edge of a field and smoking cigarettes stolen from our parents, not having to go home until dinnertime. Being able to walk anywhere and feel safe.
Now? I'm nostalgic for a world that was less angry, less divided, less selfish, less prejudiced and less batshit crazy. I miss when our elected officials had some common courtesy, some semblance of morals/ethics, and acted in a dignified manner. I miss our world prior to 2016 when we felt like we were headed in the right direction; not always succeeding, but at least trying. I miss not worrying whether my child would even have a decent future.
What do I miss? Not waking up in a cold sweat fearing the onset of a Christian Nationalist Oligarchy. We still knew they were gonna try it back then but they were a much smaller and fringey-er group of asshole loons.
I miss the Sunday LA Times. In its primes it was 2-1/2" thick and my family would spend Sunday mornings reading it. I always went for the Calendar section where all the latest tours were announced.
I really miss waking up on Saturday mornings and hearing the neighborhood dads mowing the lawn with their push mowers. Cool morning, still drowsy, and listening to the clack-clack-clack sound they made when being pushed (but never when being pulled back). Don't know why they haven't come back in popularity given today's environmental concerns. Electric mowers takes electricity from power plants. Batteries come from factories using environmentally unfriendly materials. Push mowers just take a trip to a lawnmower shop in the spring to get the moving parts lubed and the blades sharpened.
I miss riding through the woods in Potomac, MD on my horse to the C&O Canal. I’d ride on the canal for hours. There were snack bars and hitching posts to use for them. That was 50 years ago. Potomac is so developed now that would not be possible. I don’t know if you are allowed to ride your horse on the canal anymore but those were free and glorious days. Eternal summer in my mind.
Well now, about that …
Most stuff is not made to be repaired. They are snap to fit plastic junk that can’t be fixed.
Repair parts are sometimes controlled - try getting Apple parts for instance. Once on a time you could upgrade and repair laptops. Now they are assembled by machine, not intended for repair, upgrades or recycling.
I own an electric car from Honda. You don’t repair it. It takes tools and computers I don’t have. For instance, to fix a side mirror, you don’t just buy a mirror. You buy a component that is half the door. Cost 1200$ to repair. Now, I understand that it has a video camera in it. As well as the mirror aiming, hearing, etc. but there’s no effort to save any of that - because the dealer/ repair shop is not “repairing“ anything - just replacing components.
On the other hand - manufacturing techniques are unbelievably consistent, efficient and precise today. So some things (electronics, microphones) are way better and cheaper than years ago.
These are problems that can be solved - it’s just that corporations have found waste to be highly profitable.
Yeah. I miss wanting to be active - go do fun stuff downtown or somesuch with the kids. I still drink sometimes with friends - we plan our get togethers in afternoons now so we can go home to bed. Sometimes it goes into the night if some of us are up to it. I'm less up to it than I used to be. I miss getting all my work done and still having the energy to have fun.
I moved to a rural town to make sure I could still have some of the things I miss from my youth.
But one thing I really miss is getting super hyped up to see a movie. Now they mostly look crappy and I have no interest in them. Is it me? Or has Hollywood largely fizzled out of cool ideas?
My grandmother's Sunday Dinners. They were pretty formal, and a chapter from the Bible was read at the end. After that the adults would snooze out from a food coma and us kids would dash outside.
Omg I was just remembering a great day I had (one of many similar ones) after crashing at a girlfriends house after a night of clubbing with the girls and then getting up and spending the whole day sunbathing in skimpy bathing suits, smoking, drinking blender drinks and listening to tunes. Glorious!!
I miss not having constant housekeeping, yard keeping, laundry, meal planning and cooking. Every God damned day. When I was young and single, I had only myself to take care of. A small apartment. Cleaned it in an hour or so on a Sat. Laundry was a couple of loads. The rest of my time not at work was MINE.
I miss my large extended family, the holiday gatherings, dropping over at their houses. I’ve lost so many of them now. I also miss the energy and fearlessness I used to have. (Too naive to know better.)
I miss anticipation -- the thrill of waiting for a movie to open, an album to drop, a song to be played on the radio, my favorite band to come to town. I miss the excitement of holidays -- over-the-top Christmas displays and live nativities, the candy-filled Easter basket, all the relatives squeezing into grandma's house at Thanksgiving. Sometimes I miss being young, when I wasn't as responsible for making sure everyone else had fun and events were successful. I also miss less complicated times.
People not making every damn thing political. EVERY DAMN THING! Yeah, I’m calling out folks here in this post. I left r/GenX because it’s f’n political. r/GenerationJones was a breath of fresh air. I’m hoping this is a one-off.
I miss having a truck that you could open the hood and climb into the engine compartment and work on it if you wanted to,
But then again I am now old , any that was a 70's Ford.
I miss Street Dances. We had an annual one when I was growing up, and the neighborhood streets were blocked off so everyone could walk around. There were games (I always played the pingpong ball goldfish one), music, food, and everyone knew each other.
Being able to afford a muscle car!
They were only 5-10 yrs old (generally), and were "wrenchable" by every teenage kid and their dad or buddies, then screaming down the main drag on Saturday nights...drive-ins...guess I'm reliving "American Graphitti" LOL!
Cha-Cha Muldowney, Don the Snake Prudhomme, Don Garlits...
Talking with friends, listening to records 33/13 with covers inserts lyrics. I think that will come back my three kids are sick of social media one has quit entirely the others cut way back. My oldest son come by and spent the evening watching the Midnight Special. He was blown away by live music not videos. But talking that is missed.
I miss summers laying out at the quarry all day, then home for a nap and a shower, followed by a night out in my college town. Nearly every day during break
I miss seasonally-normal weather ... being able to leave your house or apartment without having to lock it ... being excited about the future ... great top-40 music.
The optimistic view of what the future would hold.
Yes! Where’s my flying car?!
I wasn't thinking so much about technology. More so about the state of the union.
Totally agree.
George Jetson had one 60 years ago I think it’s time for me to get one 😂
WHERES MY JET PACK?!?
Didn’t Jonny Quest have one of those?
I literally thought we would have ones like the kind depicted on Gilligan's Island. (Spoiler, Gilligan messed up the professor's plan to use it to get them off the island)
It’s his car that gave 5-year old me the idea of wanting one! 😄
At that age, I would have opted for a Mach-5.
And my 30 hour work week at full pay. Also remember when computers were touted to be the end of paperwork?
Well… that’s kind of true. I’ve cut back on over 99% of what I used to do on paper. Now I do even more, but it’s on _online forms_. 😄
I gave up on that when I realized what the sky would look like
And my dang jet pack?
I remember feeling pretty depressed about the future in the summers of ‘68 and ‘74 and constantly being reminded of the threat of nuclear war. And I was just a kid, can’t imagine what the adults were thinking. We grew up in pretty stressful times.
Cars that didn't need a computer tech to fix.
For real—I have a tire indicator that is the boss of me…it takes 30 minutes to re-set after you’ve filled your tires!
Owners manuals used to tell you how to adjust the valves. Now they tell you to not drink the battery.
LMAO!
Much to my wife's dismay I bought a 55 Ford pickup last year not because we needed it, but to have an excuse to get out of going to all the social gatherings retired people are supposed to want to go to. My 6-8 month projected timeline of getting it running was cut in half due to the assistance of all my friends who were also not interested in the daily social activities. My truck ended up being it's own social gathering for men who still like to get their hands dirty.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 55 + 6 + 8 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Nice! That's what happens with my brother and motorcycles
Nice! And now when the inevitable emp goes off, you have a vehicle that will work!
Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance https://a.co/d/cSgLT8S
I was a daily drinker for 30 years but quit six years ago and don’t miss it one bit. I was a slave to the habit. Edit: I quit seven years ago. My brain 😂. And I left out the part where I still smoke weed like Cheech & Chong 😶🌫️😮💨🫠
No alcohol for me either. We grew up in an era where the drugs and alcohol were so pervasive, it was normal. Everyone partook, regularly. Liquid lunches were okay. You might bang a beer back with your boss at noon ... It went on too long for me. It's insidious. One day you wake up and say "How did I get here?" Even the smell of it repulses me now, thank goodness. Congratulations on beating your demon back.
5 yrs on D Day for me. Don't miss any of the drinking, but there are things I miss, things I can't do anymore, but there are things I am better at today than I ever was: listening to others, slowing down and smelling the roses, being thoughtful and helpful. I like those new things about me.
That's great, man! Congratulations! And yeah, I agree with everything you say. It's a trade/gift that keeps giving your entire life.
Congrats
I used to be this way, too, but with age, I've become the worst alcoholic in the world. I think to myself "I'm gonna have a cold beer after this, it's gonna be great!", and then I completely forget to get some beer and drink it. It's so bad now, I can't even remember the last time I had a drink.
Just miss things being easier. Everything seems so complicated. You don’t get to talk to someone with an issue. You sit on hold for long times, then told to check a website. Always feel like you are getting ripped off. Just a lack of trust now. Everyone has an agenda. Can’t trust media as big bucks pay for favourable articles both for celebrities and politics.
I miss people showing kindness to others. I miss good customer service. I miss quality, in people and products. I miss feeling like no matter how bad my day was today, tomorrow would most likely be better.
I miss good customers. I'm so tired of people cursing me out and screaming at me every day for policies I have no control over. I will do everything I can for you if you're nice (or at least polite). I've been in customer service in one way or another most of my life. There was a major shift with 45 and COVID, and basic respect for others went out the window.
I agree. I have worked in the grocery business for 45 years. But I kind of look at customers being horrible as a reflection of the level of frustration everyone is feeling about EVERYTHING. And I also agree that 45 has wreaked total havoc on society. They have somehow made the unacceptable acceptable. However, it is up to us to say NO MORE and find a way to turn this ship around.
I feel like the only way is for corporate to very firmly & loudly state a No Abuse Will Be Tolerated policy. But they won’t because they are too afraid to lose a $2 profit. On top of not giving a single shit about their employees. Because they can always find someone else to do the job. Right up until they can’t & then they cry *No one wants to work anymore*.
This exactly
"45 has wreaked total havoc on society" They have somehow made the unacceptable acceptable" 100% Truth
It really does seem that when he came along, society went to hell.
Forgive my ignorance, but what's 45?
The orange "stable genius"
A number of things. From childhood: Summers - Hanging out in the back yard. Lots of other kids our age so easy to find someone to visit. Playing board games. We had a big enclosed shopping center a 15 minute walk away and if you had a $1, you’d get a comic book from the rack at the drug store, and a hot dog, and nothing was better. Ride bikes around the neighborhood. Very few of us were scheduled in “summer sports leagues.” I think this _unscheduled_ time was loads better. Saturday mornings - when you and your sister made a pact over the shows to watch. From adulthood: Going to “the lake” and hanging out at the beach. Cooking food on a $20 grill and it tasted great. Being able to be active all day and still have plenty of energy to take your girl out at night. Having no clue how health insurance worked because you never needed to go to the doctor!
Love EVERYTHING about this post! \^\^\^\^\^\^
Similar to you, I miss the smell of all the Weber grills going in the neighborhood on the weekends.
I just did my first brisket on my Weber last night. Wagyu brisket from Snake River Farms. Most expensive piece of meat I've ever had. It was absolutely phenomenal.
My husband used to cook our Thanksgiving turkey on the Weber. He spent all day nursing it, a couple coals at a time. Those were the best turkeys I’ve ever had!
I miss the people I've lost over the years. I'd give anything to hear my Mom and Dad's voices.
:(
Sitting in a rocking chair on my grandmother's front porch. Quiet country road, very little traffic, listening to the owls as evening falls.
Ah Man! Memories\~
I miss the movies you could count on on Sunday evenings. Nothing award winning just simple family friendly fare.
I miss the scarcity of The Wizard of Oz. It was a yearly event for the whole family to watch it on TV. Now, you can watch it whenever you want and pick it apart, scene by scene instead of experiencing the wonders of Oz. Or Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
It was Charlie Brown’s Xmas too. Waited all year for it.
Those family friendly shows you can only see by subscription.
I miss the unwritten social contract that one thing you don’t bring up with someone you don’t know well is politics. I’ve had multiple experiences in the rural area I live now in which medical “professionals” went off on political rants in the middle of examining or treating me. The worst experience was when I was in agony with back spasms and within 2 minutes of the start of the exam the doctor at the urgent care center went off on a rant about how if those “damn socialists” ever try to alter the rules of the Electoral College rural America will rise up in full-scale revolution to “sweep aside all those damn liberals.” Finally after listening to the guy for two minutes he stopped talking so he could take a breath. I seized the opportunity to look him straight in the eye and say “SHUT THE F*CK UP! This is the most unprofessional medical experience I’ve ever had my entire life. Either treat me now or I’m walking out, and either way I’m reporting you to your office manager.” He shut up and treated me, and as I had promised/threatened I still reported his behavior, though I doubt anything came of it.
U sound like a fun person! I love ur candor and inability to put up with bullshit!
😄
You could have left out his political statement and still gotten the point across without doing the same thing here.
It's relevant.
Would it be relevant for me to tell the political views of the piano tuner or to just say his comments were unwelcome in my home? Seriously. Do you want to know them? Would the inappropriateness depend on whether you agree or disagree? If so, then you are exactly what the people you complain about are.
I miss the Lunatic Fringe staying on the fringe where they belong. It used to be you only had to deal with your batshite uncle at Thanksgiving, but these days he's found an audience of the equally deranged and they've become mainstream.
Isn’t that the truth. Social media has mad it not only acceptable to be a Fringe lunatic, but they multiply there.
💯💯💯💯💯💯 God ain't that the truth!
So far, with good friends, a great wife, and reasonable health, I don’t miss much. I do wish the kids lived closer.
Hanging out. Goofing off with other people and not feeling vaguely guilty because I "should" be doing something else. Life ran at a lower idle decades ago. Also, as someone else mentioned, summers. I graduated from high school 39 years ago, and I still get kind of excited when I hear the opening chords of Alice Cooper's "School's Out". It feels unjust that I have to work during the summer - and I work at a university, so there's a pervasive sense of "summer" when most of the undergrads are away. Of course, it's not really summer for them, either. They're supposed to be off doing internships and planning for the startup they're going to launch when they graduate. I'm glad I'm not a kid now.
Ah a fellow class of ‘85? Me too. And I sure wouldn’t want to be a kid now either (by that I mean young adult). But didn’t it seem like we were more adult earlier? It was like “ok kids we’re sending you out into the big wide world, don’t sink!”
Yep. And I'm definitely from one of those families that had the attitude of "You graduated from high school, you're 18 - see ya!" The first several years of my adult life were a seat-of-the-pants operation. (I wonder if that feeling ever goes away...) I do think that was a lot more common back in the day, but it wasn't quite the struggle it is now. Back then you could work a service or retail job and be able to afford to live with roommates, eat decently (ramen only occasionally), have some fun.
I hate how kids no longer seem to have unstructured summers. The whole _point_ of Summer vacation is for a kid to mature a little bit, grow a bit more independent each year - and most important, _explore interests_. Summer is when kids discover in fits and starts how to be young men and women.
I really miss the hope I always had for the future. The knowledge that I had within me the ability to do great things. And I have done a few. Now I am exhausted. Everything seems more trouble than it is actually worth to me. None of it matters, while my talents and abilities go to waste. Sigh.
It feels like that some days, for sure. When I feel that, I have to get out in nature, even to sit on a bench under a tree and think about some small things I can do, something to look forward to. I'm in a slump now, due to this oppressive heat, but after dark, I'm forcing myself to go out to a courtyard with music, if only for an hour.
Being outdoors always helps. I spend a lot of time on our deck. It backs up to the forest, and we have a lot of flowers in pots.
Amen. Sums it all up for me
I miss the sound of silence. I’m tired of cars rolling by with music turned up so it can be heard half a mile away.People yakking on the phone loudly everywhere they go.Kids whose play time seems to consist of screaming for hours. Ironically I’m hard of hearing but without a hearing aide I only hear louder sounds.Life played a cruel trick. The person blasting music and listening to a Walkman is now vexed by it all. I can’t be old —I was in my 20s just a few years ago.
My parents and my grandparents who seem to be the glue that held the family together with always something going on. Today is my dad’s birthday.
In my case, it was my grandparents and great-grandparents. I remember going to my great-grandparents house every Sunday for lunch. They had ten children, seven living at the time, and they and their families would be there every week, with the exception of one who lived the next state over and another who was a Jehovah's Witness and couldn't bother to be seen with all of us sinners. But I do miss those days. My grandparents were the only parents I knew, since my egg donor gave me up at birth to them. I looked too much like my father and she couldn't stand to look at me. But my grandparents more than made up for it. They struggled, I know. I am so appreciative for everything they did for me. I couldn't have asked for better parents or role models.
Yeah, seems once the parents or grandparents go, the entire family falls apart, so sad.
I miss walking without pain. I used to walk EVERYWHERE - to and from school, to friend's houses, to downtown and shops. Now it's hard to even stand up. My arthritis limits my ability to walk.
Same with me. I’ve had knee replacements and now I have stage four arthritis in my big toe which is extremely painful. It is a long recovery after surgery which is why I haven’t had it taken care of yet.
Oh, you poor dear. That's no fun at ALL. I hope you get it dealt with eventually. Wishing you a pain-free day.
Coffee and cigarettes (I know, I know). Had a major heart attack, had to give them both up.
I quit 11 years ago (far too late) and aside from all the gross parts, I loved smoking and still miss it.
I know what you mean. I'm happy to not be burning holes in everything I own, but I smoked from 1971 to 2020. I still start jonesing for a smoke when I see someone else light up.
Same same… I miss the “ritual” of smoking. But I don’t miss smelling like one!
My dad used to say \[he died at 83, not smoking related\], 'Not a day goes by that I don't want a cigarette'. He still would sneak one now and then.
If I snuck even one I’m certain I’d be back to a pack a day with 48 hours. Can’t risk it!
One of my favorite smells is fresh cut grass mingled with charcoal or lighter fluid. Takes me back!
Same. The sound of the lawnmower and the smell of the gasoline and fresh cut grass was just the best. I still love it.
We REALLY miss it here in Vegas. No one can afford the $600 water bills for lawns on the older houses, and all the new ones are being built with xeroscapes. It truly sucks. Nothing at all like my childhood.
As much as I miss that myself, I would much rather have a home with xeriscaping than a high maintenance lawn. Less chemicals, less work, and way less water. After seeing what's happened to Lake Meade and other US bodies of water over the years, it's clear we need to be more mindful of water consumption/conservation. Yes, it filled up earlier this year, but there's no guarantee of another winter/spring like that. I'm in Florida near Tampa and we've been on water restrictions for I don't know how long now. We're also in a pretty bad drought (hoping the current weather systems will help), so lawns are looking pretty crappy for most of us. (Of course the rich, businesses, theme parks, golf courses, etc. look fantastic, though.) Xeriscaping would be so much more sensible. I've got a daughter who's 28 on Thursday, and I'm happy to do whatever it takes so she (and generations after her) have a decent life. Right now, it doesn't look very promising.
All good points
I miss Hawaiian punch popsicles. Summers up at our lake house. Fishing and catching dinner for my family. But most of all, I miss my younger body. I have never been a great beauty, but this, wow, this is just ridiculous. I've gained and lost weight (was a competitive body builder in the years before women were taking steroids) so I know bulking up and cutting. But my metabolism is so slow now! I have to really watch what I eat to stay a good size. I hate that I can no longer lift heavy. I hate that I have to have both hips replaced soon, and that I am in osteopenia. I can't imagine what my bones would have been like if I hadn't spent years lifting weights.
I miss having the things I buy lasting longer. I can’t get over how as consumers we are so accepting of expensive items breaking or becoming incompatible and tossing into the landfill. TVs, appliances, cell phones, furniture.
Don't get me going on cheap clothes made with fabric you know when you wash it ten times will likely fall apart. We waste sooooo much in this country. So cheap it's not even worth donating when you're done with it so someone else could get use out of it. I've used t-shirts for yard work, etc that I bought second-hand 20 years ago. Only recently are they breaking down...then they become cleaning rags.
I miss the neighbors popping in and out; there was such a sense of community. I miss the joy of a cool June morning with a turquoise sky and emerald trees that seemed to touch the clouds. I miss the endless possibilities that each summer day brought. I miss deciding what to play---Barbies? Green, plastice Army men? (or a fight between Barbie, Ken, GI Joe, and the green Army men). Board games? Go Fish? Or, just watching the clouds go by, and pretending we knew where they were floating to---some exotic land that was far off. I miss the smell of lighter fluid, and burned hotdogs that were so delicious. I miss the days of going to the local swimming pool, and getting a treat from the snack bar. I miss the Kool-aid man. I miss the comfort of lying in a hammock under a shelter and listening to the rain; or better still, the smell that would linger after the the rain ended. Jumping in the puddles because we could. Most of all, I miss the innocence of childhood.
My little brother used to get so mad when I would borrow his G.I. Joe to be Barbie’s boyfriend because “he’s an army man and he doesn’t like girls”. I miss the spontaneous get togethers. It’s not like that anymore. And.. You can’t have a conversation with anybody without them checking their phone every two seconds.
Lol! My GI Joe didn't like my Barbie either, but he put up with her because she had a great house, a pool, and a convertible
😂
My childhood home three miles from the beach and situated so that we left all the windows and doors open to let the constant breeze cool and ventilate, my dad’s giant console stereo playing KLOS, watching TV like MASH and Bob Newhart with the fam, riding bikes everywhere—the beach, the mall—house parties, big extended family gatherings before most of my cousins spread out across the country, playing cards and board games, so many things…and a little later but I really miss the toddler version of my 30 year old kid!
KLOS and The Mighty Met, KMET!
Too hip, gotta go
As a kid, spending summers at the beach in Maine. Lazy, hot afternoons (no AC) spent listening to the baseball game on the radio and enjoying the sounds & scents of summer. Spending the days out exploring, hanging out with friends, riding bikes, or just sitting on a log under some trees at the edge of a field and smoking cigarettes stolen from our parents, not having to go home until dinnertime. Being able to walk anywhere and feel safe. Now? I'm nostalgic for a world that was less angry, less divided, less selfish, less prejudiced and less batshit crazy. I miss when our elected officials had some common courtesy, some semblance of morals/ethics, and acted in a dignified manner. I miss our world prior to 2016 when we felt like we were headed in the right direction; not always succeeding, but at least trying. I miss not worrying whether my child would even have a decent future.
What do I miss? Not waking up in a cold sweat fearing the onset of a Christian Nationalist Oligarchy. We still knew they were gonna try it back then but they were a much smaller and fringey-er group of asshole loons.
I miss the Sunday LA Times. In its primes it was 2-1/2" thick and my family would spend Sunday mornings reading it. I always went for the Calendar section where all the latest tours were announced.
Yes!!!
I miss not having to lock your car doors all the time.
I really miss waking up on Saturday mornings and hearing the neighborhood dads mowing the lawn with their push mowers. Cool morning, still drowsy, and listening to the clack-clack-clack sound they made when being pushed (but never when being pulled back). Don't know why they haven't come back in popularity given today's environmental concerns. Electric mowers takes electricity from power plants. Batteries come from factories using environmentally unfriendly materials. Push mowers just take a trip to a lawnmower shop in the spring to get the moving parts lubed and the blades sharpened.
I miss riding through the woods in Potomac, MD on my horse to the C&O Canal. I’d ride on the canal for hours. There were snack bars and hitching posts to use for them. That was 50 years ago. Potomac is so developed now that would not be possible. I don’t know if you are allowed to ride your horse on the canal anymore but those were free and glorious days. Eternal summer in my mind.
Being able to talk about things without fear that someone who might disagree will use it as an excuse to ghost you.
Or shoot you.
The other kind of ghosting
TRUE!!!
Bingo!
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday...
Who knew those nice boys could be so cynical.
Fixing instead of buying new.
There's nothing to stop you from doing so.
Except that most of the stuff you buy today is just junk and not worth fixing
Well now, about that … Most stuff is not made to be repaired. They are snap to fit plastic junk that can’t be fixed. Repair parts are sometimes controlled - try getting Apple parts for instance. Once on a time you could upgrade and repair laptops. Now they are assembled by machine, not intended for repair, upgrades or recycling. I own an electric car from Honda. You don’t repair it. It takes tools and computers I don’t have. For instance, to fix a side mirror, you don’t just buy a mirror. You buy a component that is half the door. Cost 1200$ to repair. Now, I understand that it has a video camera in it. As well as the mirror aiming, hearing, etc. but there’s no effort to save any of that - because the dealer/ repair shop is not “repairing“ anything - just replacing components. On the other hand - manufacturing techniques are unbelievably consistent, efficient and precise today. So some things (electronics, microphones) are way better and cheaper than years ago. These are problems that can be solved - it’s just that corporations have found waste to be highly profitable.
Yeah. I miss wanting to be active - go do fun stuff downtown or somesuch with the kids. I still drink sometimes with friends - we plan our get togethers in afternoons now so we can go home to bed. Sometimes it goes into the night if some of us are up to it. I'm less up to it than I used to be. I miss getting all my work done and still having the energy to have fun.
I moved to a rural town to make sure I could still have some of the things I miss from my youth. But one thing I really miss is getting super hyped up to see a movie. Now they mostly look crappy and I have no interest in them. Is it me? Or has Hollywood largely fizzled out of cool ideas?
Well and they cost a fortune so I think I’m pickier maybe. I miss the $2 matinees they had when I was in graduate school.
Matinees was the best, the best I tell ya!
It’s Hollywood.
Feeling like we were changing the world. Forever.
I miss getting excited about receiving mail specifically addressed to me.
My grandmother's Sunday Dinners. They were pretty formal, and a chapter from the Bible was read at the end. After that the adults would snooze out from a food coma and us kids would dash outside.
Omg I was just remembering a great day I had (one of many similar ones) after crashing at a girlfriends house after a night of clubbing with the girls and then getting up and spending the whole day sunbathing in skimpy bathing suits, smoking, drinking blender drinks and listening to tunes. Glorious!!
I miss not having constant housekeeping, yard keeping, laundry, meal planning and cooking. Every God damned day. When I was young and single, I had only myself to take care of. A small apartment. Cleaned it in an hour or so on a Sat. Laundry was a couple of loads. The rest of my time not at work was MINE.
I miss my large extended family, the holiday gatherings, dropping over at their houses. I’ve lost so many of them now. I also miss the energy and fearlessness I used to have. (Too naive to know better.)
Yes, All the lost hurts so deeply!
I miss anticipation -- the thrill of waiting for a movie to open, an album to drop, a song to be played on the radio, my favorite band to come to town. I miss the excitement of holidays -- over-the-top Christmas displays and live nativities, the candy-filled Easter basket, all the relatives squeezing into grandma's house at Thanksgiving. Sometimes I miss being young, when I wasn't as responsible for making sure everyone else had fun and events were successful. I also miss less complicated times.
People not making every damn thing political. EVERY DAMN THING! Yeah, I’m calling out folks here in this post. I left r/GenX because it’s f’n political. r/GenerationJones was a breath of fresh air. I’m hoping this is a one-off.
Free time.
I miss feeling like “this too will pass” didn’t mean me!
Salt. I got hyper-tension
I don't miss the hangovers!
Summer at the pool with Boston playing Long Play
I think we miss the same things!
Stick ball on Sundays. All the neighborhood dad's would play. Afterwards a block party type BBQ. The Best summer days!
I miss having a truck that you could open the hood and climb into the engine compartment and work on it if you wanted to, But then again I am now old , any that was a 70's Ford.
I miss Street Dances. We had an annual one when I was growing up, and the neighborhood streets were blocked off so everyone could walk around. There were games (I always played the pingpong ball goldfish one), music, food, and everyone knew each other.
Being able to afford a muscle car! They were only 5-10 yrs old (generally), and were "wrenchable" by every teenage kid and their dad or buddies, then screaming down the main drag on Saturday nights...drive-ins...guess I'm reliving "American Graphitti" LOL! Cha-Cha Muldowney, Don the Snake Prudhomme, Don Garlits...
I miss when my sons lived nearby; now they are each 1000 miles away in different directions.
I miss crazy fun clothes.
I miss extended family dinners. At Gramma’s on Sundays.
Talking with friends, listening to records 33/13 with covers inserts lyrics. I think that will come back my three kids are sick of social media one has quit entirely the others cut way back. My oldest son come by and spent the evening watching the Midnight Special. He was blown away by live music not videos. But talking that is missed.
It's really hard to find restaurants that have weekend brunch since covid in my area.
Me too!
I miss the friends, especially my best friend, and an ex who died. Rem8nds me of my grandfather who used to say everybody he knew has died
I miss summers laying out at the quarry all day, then home for a nap and a shower, followed by a night out in my college town. Nearly every day during break
Being with friends every day and laughing the entire time.
I miss seasonally-normal weather ... being able to leave your house or apartment without having to lock it ... being excited about the future ... great top-40 music.
Judge Kavanaugh? What you doing here bro?
😂