Recently in Awesome and Marvelous World Category

I'm 50! Wow - a few years ago, I wouldn't have admitted that. Approaching 50 put a little scare in me. Well, who doesn't get a little wierd??? Like so many, I grieved the loss of youth - the tight(er) body, the drive and energy, the ability to take off extra pounds at will . . .

These days I wake up with pain in my back, my fingers stiff, a little more tired that usual. But I wake up. My legs work; my fingers bend - sort of. I make my beloved morning coffee. And I start my day which begins and ends at break-neck speed - once my coffee kicks in.

Everyday I hear about someone who has died, someone who has gone on disability, someone whose quality of life is compromised. I'm grateful for getting out of bed. I'm so glad my personal cheering section doesn't see me at 4:45 when my alarm clock goes off. It's not too pretty. By 6:15 - coffee time at the YMCA - the guys - gentlemen, all - remind me that being a woman is a good thing.

I work with teens - the toughest crowd there is. They're incredible fun (sometimes an incredible pain in the ass). Even they are very complimentary. It's wonderful that a teen thinks you're cool, still "got it", still "rocks".

Wow!! How could 50 be so bad???

What do I like about 50? Some things just don't matter - really. Beds made everyday, four course meals every night, a perfect coif, the latest in make-up, a little dirt on the floor, a few weeds in the garden. I'm not saying that I've given up total perfection! I just save up my energy for the stuff that I really enjoy or that really matters.

Naps are good. Getting lost in a great book - priceless. A card game with a child - can't be replaced. A lost,lazy afternoon with your loved one - to be repeated over and over.

I think I'm getting in right - just in time.

I'm sitting in North Central Indiana listening to WNUA out of Chicago - great jazz station - and thinking about life twenty, thirty years ago.

I remember feeling somewhat ripped from my home in 1970, sitting in my bedroom as a young teen, waiting for the night atmosphere to "free" up just right so that I could get a scratchy WLS clear down in the sticks of Missouri. Another Chicago great. I don't listen to WLS anymore even though I still like the rock and roll that they played back them. It seems like a miracle to hear the station from so far away. My dad tried to explain the phenomena, but alas! the explanation was lost on me.

Anyway, my current stream of thoughts relates to the clarity of the sound coming from my computer speakers. I listen to WNUA from my Internet connection. So cool. My students are amused to hear about how traffic is going along Lake Shore Drive in the morning.

What did we do before computers? Do you remember what life was like before our home PCs were the central focus of our living room floor plans? What about cell phones? Somehow we survived! I'm sure I wrote more letters, read more books, actually did research in a library, called on a rotary phone. Remember those? I hated the 9 and 0 - took too long to get back around. And I miss having a book in my hands - I still go to the library. A book - there's something sacred about books. Historical markers, cultural concrete.

My students and I were talking about 8-track tapes today. There's such a revulsion for old, out-of-date or antiquated items. I can't say that I'd want to bring 8-tracks back, but there's no need to get nasty!

Technology. Not all bad. What patterns of behavior, traditions, or things should we make an effort to hang on to as technology advances?