Community Chat

[libbyannE]

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@cactusjack wrote:

I can drive a stick shift car! : ) 

It can be pretty handy in case of an emergency...

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Driving! Me, too. I love to DRIVE and insist on a stick shift. So does my husband.

Manners. Without thinking, I still hear myself saying "ma'am" and "sir". Even in my 30s, I was still standing up when an elder entered the room, and my boss at the time finally told me that I did not have to pop up out of my chair every time she entered my office! Lifelong habits die hard! I still won't use paper napkins or paper plates at home. I say "please,""thank you" --  and "excuse me," even if, say, I am run into by someone else on a busy sidewalk, and out of concern fir others' safety, I do not walk around or drive around with my head buried in my iPad or phone. I turn off my phone at the theater, concert, lecture, or restaurant.

Little culinary traditions. I still grind coffee most of the time, but these days our built-in Miele coffee system does the work for me. Like my mother, I still prefer making my homemade green mayonnaise for summertime's chilled poached salmon and homemade vinaigrette on salads. I refuse to use paper napkins or plates at home. 

Marriage. Still married after 42 years. Is that an old-fashioned skill or simply luck? Probably luck.....

Mowing the old way. For exercise, I use a walk-behind gas mower when I mow every few days and refuse to use the rider! (I am still overweight, anyway. Sigh....) 

A few cerebral skills. I can think, analyze, form a coherent thesis and back it up with facts. That is how we were taught in the excellent schools I attended, and it has served me well in my career and personal life. I fear that kids aren't taught how to think anymore, but I sooooo hope I am wrong. I still do math the hard way, simply because I think it's good for my brain. I can still remember enough French and German to get by when in Europe, even though so many people speak English there. In Koln, I was trying my best  to speak German to a shop owner, and she smiled and asked  if I was English. I said no and asked her why she thought that? Because, she said in English, "Americans I meet never try to speak our language." 

[mamaslittlepotatoe]

I still write out bills, birthday cards and thank you cards and send them out though snail mail. I have a dishwasher but prefer to hand wash them. I think I still have my old address book somewhere around the house. I remember how to use a rotary phone if necessary.