When I was a kid, I had a Styrofoam space helmet and a little space outfit. I had a blast with it in the huge freezer size cardboard box that I decorated like a space capsule. My imagination was incredible and I could travel the universe in that cardboard box. I wanted to be an astronaut but of course, I was a girl so that was not going to happen. Sally Ride proved us all wrong as she was the first female launched into space and as we bid her farewell, and as the lyrics of Mustang Sally run through my head “ride Sally ride”

from wikimedia

it got me thinking…

I was always fascinated by space travel. I was a young kid, but I knew there was a lot of space out there and I always knew there was something out there besides us. Though the memory is vague, I do remember when Kennedy was in office there was an awful big race for space.
I can recall as a kid watching the rockets take off. So much smoke, and rumbling, I could almost feel the vibration through the TV. I would watch early as the space capsule landed in the ocean and ships would retrieve the passengers from the tiny capsule. I do recall how devastated I was in 1967 when three astronauts died at take off. It did not stop me from wanting to become an astronaut and I continued to study books, and watch TV shows about space.

In 1968 on Christmas day Apollo 8 did a lunar orbit of the moon. My mother had gotten me a model of one of the Apollo spaceships and it had to be one of the best gifts I got that year, not the model, but watching it on TV. Of course, who wasn’t glued to their TV in 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon? It was unreal. I kept thinking I was watching a TV show and none of it was real. Neil Armstrong’s voice rang out, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Watching it live as it happened was probably the biggest historical event in my childhood. We landed on the moon.

I never figured out why we stopped going to the moon, and by then, I was grown up and no longer wanted to be an astronaut. Times changed, capsules don’t splashdown in the ocean with massive parachutes. In 1972, the first space shuttle took off. It took off like a rocket and landed like a plane. It changed the space program, no longer was there a small capsule that would land in the ocean but rather a plane like vehicle that would fly through space and do so much more.

In 1983, history in space would change again as Sally Ride became the first woman in space and made space travel equal. She changed the face of the space program. She proved women can do anything and became a role model that women could reach for the moon and the stars. She proved to herself and to the world that there were no limits for women. She died yesterday of pancreatic cancer.

As much as I will remember the space program, I will remember Sally Ride and all she did for not only the space program and science, but for women. So as the Chamber Brothers, or Wilson Pickett, or the Kingsmen, or the Rascals, or the host of others who sang Mustang Sally, Remember Sally Ride, “All you have to do is Ride Sally Ride”.

The other day, after a long day with clients, all I could think of was turning on the TV and watching something rather silly. I turned the TV on and there was a message from Direct TV that I lost the station. Indeed, Direct TV lost 14 very popular stations such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. No, I am not happy and chances are I will eventually drop cable because reading a book is just as nice or I can stream whatever I want. I keep wondering what happened to cable TV and it got me thinking…

I am not a huge TV fan. I used to be, when TV was good. Anymore most TV is “reality” shows. Who can dance, who can’t, who is popular who isn’t, who’s got talent, who doesn’t, who slept with who, who likes who, who wants to date someone, and occasionally, there may be a TV series that may catch your attention if you can stand the violence. A few sitcoms are worth watching, however, they are far and few.

Cable TV is expensive and offers me something that I really like; OLD TV. That’s right, in today’s world, if you want good TV programming, you turn to cable to catch old reruns of old shows.  Perhaps some of the best Comedy ever was I Love Lucy and I can turn on cable and catch episodes of the greatest comedy ever created. This show aired in 1951 and went to 1957. It is a classic and what sitcoms were made of. Just think I can pay my cable bill to get original comedy.

On some TV stations, I get shows like, The Facts if Life, Batman, Mork and Mindy, Lavern and Shirley, The Wonder Years, Superman, and Batman. On other stations I can get shows like The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and old Sci Fi movies and series. I can turn the channel, get old TV movies, and watch Betty Davis and Cary Grant. I can turn the station again and get more classic movies, even some of the greats like To Kill a Mocking Bird or A Streetcar Named Desire. With the flick of my remote, I can watch something a little more current and watch On Golden Pond, or Dead Poets Society.

I think the point I am trying to get at, is many of us pay cable to watch old TV.  For younger people reading this, TV back in the day was great.  It may have been a tad corny, but we laughed because it was just funny, or cried because the actors and the script were just that good. I suddenly realized that many of us pay our cable bills so we can watch reruns of the great shows that aired 20, 30, 40 years ago.

It made me realize that as technology advances, we lose great story lines, real comedy, incredible movies that did not need special effects. Modern TV and cable is just not as good as it used to be. It’s okay, thanks to new technology and streaming, I can simply plug my laptop into my TV and go to Hulu or Netflix which carries a wide variety of current and past programs and movies for about eight bucks a month. The other day I watched old Marcus Welby on YouTube. That was free, fun and brought back some great old memories.  For the modern shows I do like, such as Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, 20/20 or perhaps Grey’s Anatomy, I have HULU and can watch it anytime.

I don’t know about you, I keep wondering what happened to cable TV and find it difficult at times to pay money for cable to watch the shows I grew up with. Cable is getting more expensive and offering a lot less. I think perhaps it is time to go back to my roots of TV, let go of cable, and just plug in my laptop or tablet, or use my Roku box and begin enjoy what I want when I want and at my finger tips.

Modern technology has its pros and cons, and I am grateful for streaming TV, much of it is free, and some of it cost so little. For someone who does not live their life in front of the TV, that is about all I need. I can get local news either streamed sometimes, or just read the paper online. Cable will be a dying breed sooner or later because of new technology and streaming however, the good news is many of us who are in our fifties and sixties can still catch the great shows from 30 years ago and not pay a penny and that is what I like about modern technology.

Today is Monday. Some people have the day off because it is believed July 4th should be a three day weekend, while others are working hard and will take the actual 4th of July off. I have no problems either way. I do not drink and party, I do not do fireworks because of the fire hazards. What I do love about the 4th of July are the memories I have of the 4th of July as a child, and it got me thinking…

When I was a kid living in Tucson, doing 4th of July was a big deal. There were fireworks all over town. I think as a kid I have seen fireworks in places such as the Pima County Fairgrounds, The U of A,  Randolph Park, A Mountain, and a variety of other places in town but the best firework display I ever saw was the one’s my father did on the ranch.

We lived on a 40-acre non-working ranch. There was a lot of land, and a great deal of “safe” places for dad to do his firework show. He would have an arsenal of fireworks that he smuggled across the border.  I think half the fun of July 4 when I was a kid was the fact that what we were doing was illegal.

My parents were law-abiding citizens, they would never do anything to break the law, well except to smuggle fireworks. My father made a big deal about it too. He would purchase his fireworks, and then hide them in a variety of items he got in Mexico. Once he brought me a guitar and filled it with fireworks. I felt like I was his accomplice in crime.

Getting ready for July 4 when I was growing up meant a lot to me because it meant BBQ hotdogs and hamburgers, potato salad, bake beans, Jell-O molds, and cupcakes with red, white and blue sprinkles. We would stuff ourselves silly with junk food. It was part of the 4th of July ritual. Eat junk food until you think you are going to puke!

My father would remind us kids he was going to have his own firework display. He would start early by lighting off firecrackers. I knew it was illegal so for me, it was not only fun, but it felt naughty, which made it even more fun. Right before sunset, he would light off an M-80, my entire body would vibrate, my ears would ring, and the jell-o in my tummy would wiggle. I knew it was a signal for our own little firework show to begin.

Dad had bottle rockets and he used the Pleasure Time bottles to set them off. My mother hated that because she was a penny pincher and she thought it would ruin the bottle and she would not get her deposit back, but that did not stop dad from lining up the bottles and sticking the rockets in them.  My mother was sure dad would lose a finger, hand, or even his head, but her paranoia and nagging never stopped him from setting off the rockets.

As he set off rockets, he gave my sister and I each a box of sparklers. We loved our sparklers and we would put one in each hand and write in the sky. My father had black snakes, whistlers, pinwheels, firecrackers, smoke bombs, bottle rockets or Romaine candles, and his cherry bombs aka M-80′s. I never saw my father talk much or smile, but on July 4, for just a few minutes, he was king of the hill and master of the household.

Those days are gone. He has dementia and on most days does not remember what day it is little long the memories of 4th of July. I on the other hand have a great deal of memories and cherish them dearly. It was the one time of year that dad gave my sister and I a sense of adventure and excitement.

Now that fireworks are legal, for me, it is not as fun anymore. I loved feeling naughty as a kid and thinking I was breaking the law and the rush it gave me.  I loved that afterwards, dad would take us to see a display somewhere in town and watch them up close. For me, it was more fun than Christmas.

I enjoy remember July 4 as a child and the sensation it gave me. For me, it was what memories were made of.  What is your favorite memory of July 4 when you were younger? Well happy 4th everyone!