Tales of the Age Gap

I was born in the 80s, Child of the 90s. I am a Millennial. When I was growing up we were called Generation Y or the Boomer Echo. To tell if you are of this age group I was given two tests: One, you are of age with an Avenger - Captain America (Chris Evans born 6/1981) to Spiderman (Tom Holland born 6/1996). Or two, you were in school, anywhere between Kindergarten to your undergrad in college, on September 11, 2001.

Now you get the Millennial age group I am in, you can understand the level of nostalgia I have and and experience. I'm at an age where I enjoy documentaries and movies where I can say, "I remember when that happened." Sometimes I talk about these things with people who are older than me, sometimes people close to my age.

One of these age gap moments is when I might say to Nestor (gen X), "Hey remember when Austin Powers came out, and I was 12 and you were 27? Those were good times." We didn't meet until 2019, but we enjoy laughing about these things.

During Christmas time, I was sitting with my father, Papa Worthit (b. 1953) and two of my niblings (b. 2010). He and I had to explain the concept of cell phone minutes and that texting wasn't always a regular thing. That I used to have to wait until after 9PM or the weekends if I wanted to call Noah when he and I were dating because we were not on the same cell phone plan. Or that we did not have internet on our phones, that phones were just that: phones, and nothing else. These things did not compute in their minds. In that moment, I rapidly aged like Walter Donovan at the end of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. My niece and nephew looked just as horrified.

I watched a lot of movies and TV as a child. With that, I think I became fairly 'culturally literate' and I think I know a lot more about older cultural references than other people my age. What surprises me, is that there is a certain level of that that didn't continue with Generation Z and Generation Alpha. I am beginning to sound like the out of touch old person at events.

I said to a different nephew, "I've been playing Pokemon since I was 15 and I remember when there were only 151 different Pokemon."

I'm finding myself saying "Back in my day..." more than I realize. Don't get me wrong, I am still making fun times. I ride my electric, hot pink scooter to the store and by chocolate and wine because I am an adult and I can and I think that would make 11-year-old me proud.

But I've long digressed from the reason I started writing this. "Tales of The Age Gap." I wanted to tell one such tale...

This weekend I went to Jimmy Johns with Hazel (Generation Z cusp) and we got sandwiches. I noticed a certain mustard on display. I said to them, "Did you know that there was a time in the 80s and 90s where you could stop at a light (in traffic), make eye contact with the person in the next car, both roll down your windows, have one party ask the other party for mustard, and the whole thing would be considered totally normal."

Keep in mind, Hazel and I had spent the last three days hanging out, laughing, telling jokes, and other general silliness. Hazel has no reason to believe the ridiculousness that just came out of my mouth. "You're fucking with me. That is absolutely not true."

I burst out laughing, because it IS true. But because of the age gap I know it is. Hazel says, "You would look at someone in the next car and say, 'Yo I want some mustard' and they would throw you some packets?"

Through tears of laughter I reply, "No, you're over simplifying it."

Hazel says, "I gotta call my mom, she'll tell me if it's true."

I repeat my line of ridiculousness and Mother replies with, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? But of course."

Mother goes on to explain the sheer significance of the commercial, the Rolls-Royce cars, and the celebrity endorsements. What it all comes down to, this is basically a meme advertising mustard ...AND IT WORKED.

Hopefully, this is a first entry in 'Tales of the Age Gap.'

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