40? How did that happen?

in just a little over a half an hour, I'll quietly leave my 30's and begin my 40th year here on planet Earth. For the life of me, I cannot figure out where the years have gone but there isn't much I can do about it so why not make the most of it. I have no idea what this next decade holds but I'm somehow hopeful that it will be a good one. So, what exactly does turning 40 mean?

I'm old enough to...

1. remember that being at war meant being at war in Vietnam, not Iraq or Afghanistan.

2. remember when astronauts actually went places (the moon) as opposed to today where they just go to low earth orbit.

3. have lived through the impeachment and subsequent resignation of a sitting US President. So long Tricky Dick!

4. have survived the Cold War.

5. remember that television used to consist of 3 and sometimes as many as 4 channels.

6. remember that if you wanted to change one of those channels, you had to actually get your lazy ass up off the sofa and walk to the TV to do it.

7. remember that when you wanted to call someone on the telephone, you actually had to use a phone that had a cord attached to the wall. To add insult to injury, you had to dial the number using a rotary phone.

8. have seen all three Star Wars films in the theater, when they first came out.

9. remember when MTV actually played music videos. Believe it or not, a Video Premiere used to be a pretty big thing.

10. remember when kids actually played outside and didn't sit in front of the television set or computer.

11. remember the introduction of the microwave oven and VCR. The first VCR we had was the type that required you to load the tape from the top.

12. remember when computers came with black and white monitors.

13. remember when gasoline was less than 75 cents a gallon. Yes, I was old enough to drive then.

14. remember when people could pretty much smoke wherever they wanted to and no one thought anything of it.

15. remember when big hair wasn't a sign of being a redneck.

16. remember when the depletion of the ozone layer was more of a threat than climate change.

17. remember when you had to specify that you wanted unleaded gasoline.

18. remember when going out to eat was something special and not the norm.

19. remember when "Classic rock" wasn't really classic, just rock.

20. remember when Honda made lawn mowers and not cars.

Thankfully, I'm not old enough to remember walking uphill to school, through 5 feet of snow in 50 below zero temperatures and was happy to do it.