Discovering our own little children’s museum
By Charles P. Eberson
Senior Moments
In our home, YouTube has been an exercise in compromise due to differences in our interests. My subscriptions tend to be more about photography, aviation and motorcycle travel, while my wife’s are, well, not.
Recently, there has been a proliferation of tiny homes, minimalism and decluttering videos that I have sat through with my eyelids taped open. Stories abound of people who have sold their 5,000-square-foot houses with all their belongings and are now living joyous, unburdened lives out of a backpack.
It is true that although I have been working on clearing out some of my accumulated bounty in the attic, there are certain items I have become more attached to for sentimental reasons. It is the “old” technology items that I have hung onto. There is the kitchen wall phone with a dial, the pink princess phone from our bedroom, a Marantz receiver with an accompanying Sony five-CD carousel changer and portable manual typewriter I used in college. Finally, there’s the answering machine with messages from my mother that I’ve kept but haven’t listened to, even 15 years after her passing.
Recently, my wife and I were thrilled to have our three grandchildren visit. At ages 6, 8 and 11, one soon runs out of things to keep them occupied. On a whim I brought down the kitchen wall phone. They were fascinated by the dial and laughed as they dialed each digit and watched as the dial returned after each number.
One of them asked, “How do you text?” and was puzzled to hear that you couldn’t text on the wall phone. They looked at the back of the phone for a screen and asked about Facetime. Sorry, no.
Then I showed them the CD changer, loaded it with five CDs and showed them how it rotated. They didn’t understand, but were amused and asked me to turn up the volume. I explained that I had to connect it to a receiver and two speakers. Again, a look of puzzlement followed by, “Why don’t you just listen through the phone you showed us?” Sigh.
For the grand finale, I brought down the typewriter, which really excited them. They initially started pounding on the keys, jamming them together, until I showed them how to type. I watched in anticipation as the carriage got to the end and the bell rang. All three children were surprised and were laughing, competing to take turns typing until the bell sounded. Then the 11-year-old granddaughter asked, “Where is the DELETE key?”
When I explained that I had a tiny bottle of white paint with a tiny brush to paint over mistakes, it was clear that this was odd to them, and I must say, it sounds pretty funny to me now.
One of them took the old answering machine out of the box and asked, “What is this, Pop Pop?” I explained that it was attached to one of the phones and works like voicemail when you can’t get to the phone. Then they asked if there were any messages on the machine. I just looked at them and finally told them, “No,” and put it back in the box. Their curiosity in the other items would have to do, for now.
It was heartwarming to see how fascinated they were with the everyday items we took for granted. While these old items were once everyday objects, the cutting-edge technology our grandchildren use today will also become outdated and puzzling to their future children and grandchildren.
So now, my phones can be discarded, the receiver and CD changer will find a new home and the kids can have the typewriter if they want. As for the answering machine, well, I am going to need a larger backpack.
Charles Eberson has been in the newspaper business for over 25 years. He has worked as a writer, advertising executive, circulation manager and photographer. His photography can be viewed at charles-eberson.fineartamerica.com