Wha'd I Miss??

Well, thank goodness for scientific polling! Here I was thinking my ignorance of pop culture was more an indicator of age. Now I find I'm one of the ignorant mainstream. Hoorah!

I was thinking just the other day about some of the things I've allegedly missed that have become icons of American society: I've never watched a single "Simpsons" episode all the way through. Ditto "Seinfeld." I never even attempted to watch "Friends." The other day someone told me how incongruous it was that Lance Armstrong (him I know about) was Sheryl Crow's boyfriend. I had to look her up. Of her music I know nothing. For that matter, if they don't appear on the playlists of either KUSC (classical) or The Wave ("smooth" jazz), I've probably not heard of it.

I've only ever attended one (count 'em, one) paying rock concert when Kenny Loggins played at our local fair one year. I've heard Papa Doo Run Run play because my brother-in-law used to play with them pretty regularly. I suppose that means that someday I may attend a Beach Boys (one of their current iterations, anyway) concert since he's switched bands this year.

I've never smoked or imbibed, unless you count caffeine, and even for that I'm "on the wagon." I've never done recreational pharmaceuticals, but was hooked on nasal spray years ago.

I pretty much missed the entire 70's because during my raging hormone storm I was a skinny, pimple-faced geek and spent a LOT of time hiding out. Or on stage. Go figure. The 80's was a blur of coming into real adulthood, including my so-called starter marriage, kids, and trying like mad to define myself against all these things I've allegedly missed. The 90's was my defining decade, taking some surprising turns, and I found several things that I was missing and didn't even realize I had missed them. Mostly, it turns out, because I trying too hard not to miss out on things everyone else tried to convince me were important. Never quite made it, according to their standards.

Today, I don't even have the TV hooked up to our satellite, which we allowed to lapse. We've agonized some over not being able to watch the Olympics this year, but in light of the current doping scandals (did she, or didn't she??) I'm not sure I'm as interested as I was even a few weeks ago.

We homeschool our kids, which means that we're in each other's faces all the time. They don't waste their entire day in front of Nick Jr., and we get to participate fully in their incredible learning journey. So they've never been to a public school, except to take swimming lessons this summer.

On Sunday I take my family to church. Couple of times each month we go visit family. I can't tell you the last time I watched a game on Sunday. I think it was a Super Bowl in the early 90's, and I'm pretty sure I didn't finish it. Maybe the game was an over-hyped blowout (nawwwwwww, couldn't be!), or maybe I was already beginning to lose interest in hyper-steroidal cry-baby millionaires as a form of entertainment. I can, on the other hand, tell you the last time I had a meaningful experience on Sunday, because our family has those regularly.

Now take all of these things I've missed in recent years, and ask me if I've really missed them. My response:

Missed what?