'90s Kid

A few days ago, Neil Armstrong died – in case you hadn’t heard. I, of course, was born in the 90s, and therefore was not around when he stepped foot on the moon. I can, however, finish the sentence: “That’s one small step for man...” because I (would like to think that I) have a slight knowledge about the history before my wonderful introduction into the world. It took me a long time to learn that people functioned on this planet before me, and they will (probably) function when I’m gone. Unless 2012 is really the end. I hope not – we have plane tickets for the day after “the end of the world.” What a waste of $950 that will be. But before that incredibly strange tangent, Armstrong’s death made me reminisce on being a ‘90s brat. I’m not sure how the two correlate, but whatever.

It makes me sad for all the kids born after the millennium – how they’re growing up in technology-crazed world and becoming attached to the i-whatevers. I do have an iPhone – don’t get me wrong. I love technology. But I loved growing up without it, too. Being a ‘90s kid was the best thing, hands down. Except – on a side note – I always felt like I should have grown up in the ‘50s. The music, the clothes, the house-wifey-ness. But that’s beside the point. None of my memories as a kid have anything to do with iPads, laptops, Facebook, or Angry Birds. I do remember getting the internet – good ol’ AOL dial-up with that ear-piercing tune. I remember building blanket forts in the living room (and staying up ‘til midnight), riding my bike down to the river (and surviving – imagine that), carving initials into tree trunks (with a knife…), trick or treating (Stranger Danger!), camping (in a tent – not a high-class RV), and having pancakes with chocolate syrup for dinner (alright – that was only a few special occasions, but still). It’s sad to me that these things are slipping away, and that maybe my kids won’t get to experience some of them. That’s a joke – you bet my kids are sleeping in a tent. They’re even sleeping on the outer edges so they get all wet in the morning. They’ll thank me someday.

But for now, we don’t live in the ‘90s. We live in 2012, where we’re all crossing our fingers that the Mayans were wrong so we can continue living in our weird world, walking around befuddled without phone reception. How did we ever survive before?

And by the way – I just wrote “befuddled” because I heard it on an underwear commercial. Thank you Michael Jordan.