Times Have Changed

Last night, I got one of these headaches that causes my vision to become very spotty and distorted. In fact, I was in a chat room with Papa, Craig, and a bunch of other dish collectors when it hit. I could barely read my screen and had to log off early.

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I used to get these all the time when I was a teenager. The pain was so bad that I would end up vomiting. My parents were always having to leave work to pick me up at school.

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Even though these headaches have never gone away completely, their frequency has has been greatly reduced. Now, I only get them once every few years or so.
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My last such episode occurred more than four years ago. I was driving the car when my vision started going blurry. I managed to pull into a McDonald's parking lot, and call Q to come pick me up.

Last night's headache occurred in the safety of home. I just took some Tylenol PM and went to bed.

While I laid there, I began thinking about the headaches I used to get as a teenager. My mom took me to the doctor and I was given medication, which I kept with me at all times.

That's right! I walked around high school with a bottle of prescription pain meds in my purse.

That move wouldn't fly today. I must have been really good about being discreet because I didn't get in trouble for it.

In fact, we got away with a lot of crap when we were kids...much of which would be grounds for expulsion today:

--In the late 80s, Corona Beer t-shirts were all the rage. Everybody had one, and we wore them to school.

--Whenever birthdays were celebrated, we were allowed to bring in homemade cupcakes to share with the class. Now, all treats have to be store-bought.

--Q grew up in rural Montana. He talks about how kids would drive to school in trucks equipped with gun racks. Some even wore utility knives on their belts.

--We called it like we saw it. Winter Break was known as Christmas Vacation.

--Instead of "fall festival", we got to have real, honest-to-goodness Halloween parties. We even got to wear our costumes to school.

--Nobody was ever censured for eating a peanut butter sandwich in the cafeteria.

--We didn't need a food handler's license to hold a bake sale.

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--Pet birds, fish, snakes, frogs, and hamsters were commonly brought in for show-and-tell.

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--We played tag or tackle football on the playground

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--We also jumped off the swings. (Lucas tells me this is a HUGE no-no)