Generation Greedy and Other Random Thoughts

I’ve thought a lot about this generation of teenagers and what we should call them, this after speaking with many parents. While I am from the “Baby Boomer” generation and my husband is from Generation X, both of us are quite similar in thoughts and ideas; whereas this current generation is a whole lot different. They could be called the “Lightening” Generation. With technology everything is at lightening speed and so they expect everything to be the same way. They could also be called Generation “Greedy”! I want it right now and YOU OWE me. And do you know who did this, the Baby Boomers and Generation X. Not these two old codgers, we don’t buy them cell phones, cars, computers or all those expensive things. But guess what, ours still have that mentality, no matter how hard we have tried; the influences outside the house are much stronger than ours. We just can't wait to see how it works for them into adulthood when they have to get a "Real" job, pay their own bills and buy the stuff themselves. This will be especially enlightening since now they make noises of me having to work on my birthday and or theirs. This is real life kids. Get over it. I was even denied a day off to attend family therapy and a birthday lunch for one of my daughters with my family because I am now responsible for ensuring that all 300 of our employees time is processed by close of business every other Thursday so they will all get paid on time. Doesn't make me happy to have to live my life around this work event every two weeks, but it is one of my job responsibilities that I have just been given and I am the one who is responsible and my back up has already been scheduled off. I am grateful to have a job -something my children do not understand at this point in their lives, I am hoping that someday they will. I am a federal employee and have been employed continuously for the past 31 years and am proud of my work record and work ethic. Yes, family should come first, but Kelvin is my wonderful solid rock of a husband who understands and he knows what to tell the therapist tomorrow when they all go. I can call in by conference call if I need to tell them something. Life isn't fair, but hey, I get paid really well and it puts food on the table and clothing and pays the majority of the bills. I can actually retire in 3 years, but am going to wait 9 years as that is when our youngest child is scheduled to graduate high school and we will be childless. Working on what we call the 9 yr plan to pay OFF debt, put the house on the market and move into an apartment. We want to buy a small motor home to travel each summer and school break that Kelvin has off after I retire is our dream. He is younger than I am and won’t be able to retire for about 12 years after me. But we won't need the huge “Hybrid Manor” any more when all the children are grown and I too really want to unclutter our house. We are beginning to do some of that even now. I even bought a small book on how to begin to live without clutter. After reading several chapters, I found that I am emotionally attached to stuff...but wait, it is just stuff, and the memories are mine and not this stuff. OM Gosh I am materialist....something I said I would NEVER be. So far we have Decluttered 3 bedrooms and we have one more bedroom to do a make over on and that will include, removing the carpet and replacing it with tile, repainting and putting up new curtains/blinds and updating the bedding. This will more than likely be the last update we do before we get ready to place the house on the market in 7 years. After my medical scare last week and seeing the neurologist regarding my abnormal CT scan, I am continuing my medical testing and so far all labs are normal and so is my carotid artery ultra sound. I am waiting on results of the 24 hour holter monitor and my echocardiogram. My final test is an MRI of my brain with and without contrast. As everything so far is normal and I have none of the usual risk factors associated with stroke, unless any of the unread tests are abnormal, chances are they are never going to figure out "Why" I have had these strokes or how long ago they occurred as they didn't leave a “postmark” so to speak. So my diagnosis will most likely be “Stroke and TIA”, but the cause AKA “etiology” unknown - a fancy term basically stating that they don’t know. For now I will continue to take a daily dose of baby aspirin and go on with my life. This is a reminder to the children that no one lives forever on this earth and we aren’t promised tomorrow. This is especially close to home for me as I talked to my mother one night, told her I loved her and would talk to her the next day. The next morning came and my brother called to tell me she was gone – no sign NOTHING, she was gone at age 59 and to this day 20 years later, I still miss her. So live each day as it is your last on earth with integrity (You never know whose looking), laugh often, love deeply and don’t be afraid to apologize to someone or tell them that you love them, you never know when it is the last time you will have a chance to do it.