When we moved away from the military life and to Florida almost 14 years ago, I felt like I never really connected with other moms. The moms of children the same age as my boys were at least a good 10 years older than me. And women my age either weren’t married or didn’t have children yet. No one really wanted to hang out with me when all I could intelligently talk about were my kids.
I just didn’t fit in anywhere. For many years I felt like a misfit. My social life wasn’t very exciting. Girls’ Night Out just didn’t happen.
Within the past couple of years I’ve found a new social niche that’s actually quite comfortable – women 10-15 years younger than me who are single or married without kids.
Now that the boys are teenagers and don’t require 112% of my attention, I’ve found that I can go out, be social, not watch the clock, AND talk about other stuff. The tables have turned. I can blend in with the demographic that couldn’t relate to me 14 years ago.
Yep, hanging out with the group of 20-something women at the office really makes me feel hip and cool. I feel like I’m in the KNOW. Granted, these women are closer in age to my eldest son than to me but that really doesn’t matter.
That is until something comes up in conversation that proves I was in high school when they were born.
Today I tried to explain a mimeograph machine to three of my co-workers. It was painful for me. They couldn’t grasp the concept of the stencil, dittos, purple printing, the smell of the ink, the hand-cranked drum, or why the paper came out damp. Even after I sent them the link to Wikipedia, they stared at me blankly.
I thought if they could relate it to a movie, they might know what I was talking about. So I asked if they had ever seen Animal House.
(cricket cricket)
Is that the movie about the fraternity?
Ugh!
****
Your Turn
Someone PLEASE tell me that you remember a mimeograph machine! Or that you have at least seen Animal House.
4 comments:
I met two people last week on a conf call who had never seen "Airplane." And they're older than me. They have no excuse.
That's interesting that you're relating to child-free women. Usually when my friends had children, we drifted apart because (of course) all they could think about was children, and I wasn't interested. ;-)
I'm glad you're making friends!
Oh the horror of the ink. Animal House is a must see for anyone of any age. Heck I remember manual type writers and tv with knobs to change the channel.
Goodness! I used a mimiograph machine at the high school where I subbed in the early '90s. I believe I watched Animal House with you a couple times. It's a movie that to this day, if I pass it on AMC or another such channel, I stop and watch at least a few minutes... Ah memories... ;-)
I'd forgotten about the pain-in-the-ass that is a mimeograph machine!
And hey, I felt cool because I took an electric typewriter to college. *cringe*
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