I made a run to Costco the week before Christmas. My goal
was to pick up a few things that Amy had on her list. I arrived before the
place even opened, quick-stepped it through the entrance a few minutes later
and arrived back at the car in about 10 minutes. Leaning on the vehicle beside
me was folded stroller. As I began to inform the driver, he rolled down the
window and told me that his wife was on the phone with their daughter to get
instructions on how to open the thing up.
I thought to myself, “How hard can this thing be?” The
answer came much too quickly. Two men looked at the stroller for a minute and
tugged at the joints and pushed button and pulled knobs, all to no avail. The
man shook his head and stated,
“I have two Master’s degrees; you’d think I’d be able to
open a stroller!”
It let him know that I had one such degree, and then we
chuckled. What else could we do? The next moment I spied a woman putting things
in the back of her SUV. “Ah ha!” She looks to be someone who can help. I walked
over to her, excused myself for bothering her, and then asked if she could help
two men open a stroller. She began laughing and shaking her head.
“I can’t help at all. I’m a grandmother, but I’ll be darned
if I can set one of those things up.”
Feeling defeated, I returned to the car. We again looked at
the contraption and performed the same actions. Then my hands discovered a
lever on one of the side rails. I pulled it and voila, the stroller opened. My
compatriot jerked his head up and looked at me to ask what I had just done. I
pointed to the lever, and he shook his head. I know that he had the same
four-letter word knocking around in his head that I had. His wife opened the
car door and informed us that she’d found 2 YouTube videos on how to close the
thing but none to open it.
A few years before, we were visiting our grandson in
Nashville. He wanted to watch a video, and I popped it in the machine. For a
couple of minutes, I punched buttons without ever hitting the right one. Madden
got off the couch and walked over to me. He asked, “Can I try it, P?” I handed
the remote to him, he hit a couple of buttons, and the video started. The boy
never said a word of teasing
or let a snicker pass from his lips. I suppose he
knew how dumb I already felt. 
I enjoy technical gadgets, and I spend plenty of time on
computers as I write, research, and check email. I have a smartphone, not the
most recent version but one that does more than I thought possible. However,
some functions on these things baffle me. Why are so many steps included in
I hope to have several good years left. However, what
concerns me is that the world will continue to change and leave me behind. My
generation probably feels more obsolete than any past one. Advancement in so
many areas occur much faster than in years past. We struggle to keep up, and
most of the time, men and women just give up and say “to hell with it.”
As this new year begins, my fellow baby-boomers, enjoy each
and every day that you live and every breath that you draw. Don’t worry about
not being a pro at using “new-fangled” machines. However, if you have
grandchildren and plan to spend time with them, you’d better learn how to open
a stroller.
Happy New Year!
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