GENERATION TO GENERATION

Who makes up names for generations anyway? I mean, you have the “Great Generation” and “Baby Boomers” and then “X” & “Y?” The creative director must have retired or something. Probably was part of the Great Generation. At least the new naming hack could have started at the beginning of the alphabet because we will be in a panic at Generation Z. Perhaps it was a meteorologist who named them at the end of “H” season. Yeah, I don't write the “H” word.

So, I bought into this corny idea of getting a journal for my parents for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. It was some Hallmark sappy thing about leaving a legacy. But, on second thought…not so corny. Listen up!

Okay, Generation X-ers and Y-ers, here is the deal. People in the Great Generation knew how to put lard in a jar and bury it in the ground to keep it cold. Why, may you ask? Not all that sure. I don't know where to find lard, aside from buying a pack of Oreos. If I had lard, I am not sure what I would do with it either...besides bury it in the ground as I heard my grandfather say once while talking about life on the farm in Kansas.

My other Great Generation grandparents grew up in the hills of North Louisiana, working farmland. My great-grandfather was a farmer by day and a house-calling dentist whenever someone's tooth was about to explode! My great-grandmother was of French origin and had lots of kids WITHOUT an epidural, and she bathed all of them in the same tub, same water. The kids took turns on who went first each night. Eeewwww!!!

If you looked back, your family would have similar stories. Stories about the iceman who would deliver ice for the fridge. Stories of riding horses not cars. This may seem like fiction to Twitter-ers, iPhone-aholics, “crack-berry” carrying workaholics and the like of today, but it's so real. I started thinking about this whenever I saw a clip on “desk rage” of people going nuts and kicking over their computers at work. Huh?

So, it's kinda scary in today's world that so many people don't know the secrets of the past. We did, after all, survive without oil. What's even scarier to me is that I lack a green thumb to the point that I killed a cactus. A CACTUS! Is that even possible? How would I ever run a farm?

So, go out there and get those legacies! You will be so glad that you did.