Once or twice a year my daughter-in-law, a Frence and Sociology teacher, invites a few senior citizens such as myself to meet with her Sociology students in small groups, usually two old timers at a table with four to five students. One of the students leads the discussion which is based on a series of questions. We talk about how life was many years ago vs. now and I find it very interesting to get their input on various aspects of life now and then. The one subject that always comes up is technology. I know they have a hard time understanding that we didn't grow up with personal computers, let alone tablets and smart phones, but when I told the group today that my family didn't even own a TV until I was in 6th grade they positively goggled. However did we survive???
Another question was "Did you ever participate in any deviant behavior in your youth?" When I told them that,while I didn't really consider it deviant, I did date a black man back at a time when dating someone of another race wasn't as common as it is now. One young lady asked me how my parents reacted to that. I was honest and told her that I was living in New York at that time. My mother was dead and my father was living in Indiana. It was never a serious situation and he never knew. It always surprises me what memories these sessions stir up. It all seems soooo long ago.
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