Old Woman. Man! Man...Sorry.

Believe it or not, I have not been looking for an excuse to work Monty Python into a Blog post, though when the opportunity presented itself, I'd kick myself if I didn't take advantage of it.

As Dennis the Constitutional Peasant once put it:

"I'm 37, I'm not OLD."

It's good to know that Dennis has confirmed my not-yet-over-the-hill status in the timeless medium that is cinema.  Yes, it's my birthday, and I'm 37, and that particular phrase of Dennis's has been running through my head for the last few weeks.  The number doesn't bother me in the least.  One year closer to 40...big deal.  As my old USNA buddies would say "One Year Closer to Death"...still no biggie.  The fact that I have to lean over to my wife from time to time and ask "How old am I again?" is not so much the onset of old age as the fact that the numbers at this point in my life just don't mean anything.

I think what interests me more is looking back at 37 years, and thinking about that phrase is wondering how many of the things that influenced my life, my humor, and my perspective may be lost on my kids if I don't introduce it to them since Pop Culture has changed so much.  Will they ever understand why I can't go through the produce aisle of Shop Rite and not grin when I see the coconuts, wondering how many European Swallows it took to get them all there? (It couldn't have been African swallows, since those are non-migratory.  Duh.)

A few months(?) ago I saw a Facebook post from my cousin showing his son and friend sitting on the couch mesmerized, with a caption stating that they were being introduced to "Star Wars."  How COOL is that!   I love the idea of sparking their imaginations with "the Force" and seeing if it's received as well with my kids as it was with me.  Considering the awesome adventure potential of our back yard, the Indiana Jones Trilogy is also high on the list.  (No, I do not acknowledge the tragedy that was the 4th installment of the series.  I think Spielburg was trying to One-Up Lucas's Jar-Jar Binks as far as bad movie ideas was concerned.)  There are some invaluable life lessons that can only truly be appreciated by watching some of the classics.  Some examples:

1)  It is important to slowly build up an immunity to iocane powder
2)  Never let Fredo watch your back when you're buying fruit.
3)  We're going to need a bigger boat.
4)  It's not cruel and repetitive manual labor, it's actually close-quarter's combat training.

(Ok, in truth, that last one is not a 'classic' by my standard, but "Wax on. Wax off" is pretty iconic, and anything that can be used to eventually get my kids clean and wax my car, paint the house and sand the deck may be worth considering...) 

It's not just movies.  TV we grew up with also had a lasting impression.  To this day I still laugh myself to tears watching certain Looney Tunes episodes.  Seriously, there's something wrong with you if you don't at least start giggling when you think: "Duck season!...Rabbit Season!...Duck Season Fire!" 

I guess a big difference is that we didn't have DVRs and a thousand channels to choose from.  So while my little guys have hours and hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and Babar, if I got up early on a Saturday, I had to gut through "Davey and Goliath" and various other ridiculous cartoons until the good stuff like Transformers or Voltron came on.  Of course you'd have to wait a few hours until Bugs Bunny actually came on, but it wasn't like I was going to turn off the TV until then, so I'm sure I watched hours of other garbage until then and countless hours of cereal and toy commercials.  I still use the term "Cuckoo for CocoPuffs" but since the invention of TiVo, I'm sure none of my kids have any idea what I'm talking about.  In fact, the first time we taped "Chicken Little" for them to watch, they experienced commercials for the first time.  The crying and complaining the first time a commercial came on and they thought the show had 'stopped' was actually confusing.  "Guys, it's OK, it's just a commercial.  The movie will start again in a minute, I promise!"  Could you imaging the hysterics that would have ensued if they had to endure a round or two of "School House Rock?"

Speaking of Rock  (Gotta love that seque...)  I took my kids Dunkin Donuts the other day, our weekly Sunday Ritual and they always have the radio playing.  This particular time they had some Rock playing.  I'm not talking about Pop, which is all I seem to hear on the radio these days, I'm talking ROCK!  Woohoo!  Watching my three-year-old get his dance on to KISS - I Wanna Rock and Roll all Night had me cracking up and loving every minute of it.  It was at that moment that I realized that maybe it was OK for me to put away the Disney Classics CD's and pop in Daddy's iPod mix every once in a while.  So while getting dinner ready, I introduced the kids to "C'mon Feel the Noise" and "Highway to Hell."  I'm not sure my wife was totally approving until I cranked some "Bad Medicine" and peeked around the doorway to see her doing some subtle head banging.  (When in doubt, bust out the Bon Jovi to get the Jersey Girl to come around to your way of thinking.)  All three kids, and the grown ups too, spent time in the kitchen bustin' a move or two (incidentally, that's on the mix along with Baby Got Back...you gotta have some fun with it!) and having a really good time. 

So no, 37 doesn't mean anything to me, but I am aware that there are some great things that I did and experienced growing up that I can start sharing with my kids, even at their young age.  In some cases I can do it because of their young age.  Lets be real, they're too young to understand the lyrics to most of my songs but they can understand an awesome drum riff or a kickin' guitar solo.  If nothing else, my version of pop culture will live on through my kids, and even if I can't remember how old I am I'll always remember that my favorite color is blue.

No!  YELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!