What's happening to me?

Today I painted the garage doors and I don't know what's happening to me, I used to be such a careful painter, now I'm terrible, I slop paint on places it doesn't belong and when the paint in the roller pan skimmed over in the hot sun, I just kept on painting and didn't even care. What's up with that?
I was planning to submit my painting job for the Andrew McCann Seal of Approval. I figured he could inspect it when he came to Daniel's open house, but now I'm thinking of uninviting him to the open house.
Then there is the problem of the color, I really wanted some manly forest green type color to go with the roof, but decided that would be too much dark so I picked a lighter green. Then went even a little lighter just to be safe. Now I have this pale mint green that just makes me feel queasy when I look at it. It doesn't go at all with the roof. I had my doubts but they were confirmed when Debby Tilton trotted over to tell me that she liked the color. Now I know I painted it some sissy color.
But here again, I'm too complacent to get more paint and do it again. I'm hoping the color will grow on me, or the sun will change it to another color I like better.
Is this old age setting in? I just don't know.

They have taken away the fun of kids and cars

I grew up in the glory days of kids and cars. The 50's and 60's were the best years for kids to ride around in cars. I have lots of fond memories of riding in cars that kids today will never have. How about riding while laying on the ledge of the back window in the car? (actually I remember seeing my little sister Debbie do that- but I probably did too) I definitely remember riding while laying down in the back of the station wagon in the cargo area- it was fun to watch the moon "follow" us home at night. Of course seat belts weren't even invented yet, so hopping from the front seat to the back was no problem as long as you didn't kick the driver in the head in the process. Pick up trucks were the best rides of all, adults rode up front, kids rode in the back while hanging on for dear life. Once I remember my friend Tim and I stood in the back of my Dad's old pickup while going down the road- we were safe though- we reached over the top of the cab and hung onto the little rain shield above the windshield to keep our balance. Or how about the time my Mom let us ride on the fold down tailgate of the station wagon with our legs dangling over the edge? The only problem came when I saw my friend playing in his yard and decided to hop off to play with him. I found out you don't just get off a moving vehicle- you roll down the road for a bit before you come to a stop. I didn't do that one again.

Small children of course had to be in a safe spot, so they always just stood beside the driver so if the car stopped quick the driver threw out their arm just in time to stop them from smashing into the metal dashboard. That kept everyone on their toes. Some kids had it really good with a kiddie seat that strapped to the front seat, it had a steering wheel, horn and other gadgets to make the kid think he was driving.

Somewhere along the way people like Ralph Nader pointed out that the kiddie seat was just a launching pad for little kids when a car got in an accident. Thinking of launching pads, now kids are strapped in like astronauts getting ready for a blast off. I'm surprised helmets are not required too.

And what about leaving kids in cars? Nowadays people are arrested for it. In my youth the car was the preferred babysitter while your parents shopped. Of course the windows had to be down in the summer to keep cool, but that was OK, we were practically climbing out the windows most of the time anyway. No need to lock up kids in the car to keep them safe- bad guys had more sense back then. If they saw a bunch of rowdy, dirty kids like us in a car they knew the best thing to do was to stay away.

I learned lots of important stuff in cars while waiting for someone who was shopping, such as- don't touch red hot things no matter how intriguing it may seem. I learned that one from my first encounter with a red hot center of the cigarette lighter. It looked pretty, how was I supposed to know it would hurt? Not only did it make me cry for about an hour and everyone walking by looked at me, it left a bunch of little white rings on my finger that matched the little red rings inside the cigarette lighter. I also learned that slamming your fingers in the door can really hurt, that lesson was learned at Dalton Grocery. And that no matter how smashed your fingers looked and how much they hurt, eventually they stopped hurting and they took their normal shape again. Sitting in the drivers seat while the adults were in the store was when you got the chance to pretend to drive. With non locking steering and transmissions, I have seen a few cars roll down a incline from kids fooling around with the controls. It would only happen once before you learned which one of those pedals way down there was the brake.

So it seems we live in a more controlled and safety conscious time. Today we see danger lurking everywhere. In my day we never thought anything bad or dangerous was going to hurt us. The only fear I remember being placed on me was the fear that some bad man would drive up in a car and offer me candy. It never happened and I never could figure out why bad men would offer little kids candy anyway. It kind of gave candy a bad name, but I still ate it.

The funny thing is that my Dad used to tell stories about his childhood, and it sounded REALLY dangerous back then compared to my childhood. Either we just keep getting more and more careful or each generation learns how to juice up the stories from their youth just enough to let the next generation know how wild life used to be back in the "old days".