Special

A friend of mine excitedly told me over lunch that he and his wife decided to do something special this past weekend. He got some wood and lit a small fire in the backyard. Then they sat and toasted marshmallows. I thought about for awhile, and realized that I haven’t toasted a marshmallow in 30 years, if not longer. S’mores are an even more distant memory. You just don’t do that with gas grills.

What does one consider special today? When I was small, a second car was special. Ours was an old 1956 Plymouth with no carpet or radio. It had heat, and the heat was considered to be special. Of course, we had a one car garage, and could still walk to the bus line.

In 1956, eating out was special. Once each month we would go to the Sunday buffet at the Pick Ohio Hotel in downtown Youngstown, or maybe to the Mural Room. From time to time we would go to Howard Johnson’s or to Shott’s on Market Street. But mostly we ate in. When fast food came down the pike, going to the walk up McDonald’s or to Morgan’s Wonder Boy on Sunday night was special.

Air conditioning was special at one time. In the 1950’s we went to the movies to cool off on Saturday afternoon. I regularly drove a non-air conditioned car until the mid 1970’s. Our house wasn’t air conditioned until 1970. That was special.

Television was special once upon a time. We got our first television in 1956. The grainy black and white vertical hold challenged picture was special. We were still using it as second television as late as 1968. Staying up until 11:30 on Saturday nights was special so we could watch Gordon Ward hold his hand made cards upside down as he was selling his refrigerators. Color television was special, even with that odd shaped picture tube. The NBC peacock would open the color television shows. Then cable television was special, then 220 channels was special. I even thought FOX News was special when my cable company started to carry it in 2000.

Vacations were considered to be special. We would drive to the Holiday Inn out on Market Street Extension to make reservations, or sometimes to the Quality Inn in Niles. Freeways were really special. I remember driving to Columbus with my folks on old Route 62, a 4 – 5 hour trip. And that 50 minute jaunt to the Pittsburgh Airport used to take 2 hours, even as late as 1978. To get to downtown Pittsburgh, it was better to take the 2 hour plus train ride.

Today, I get into one of my three, automatically climate controlled cars parked in a three car garage to drive to dinner in downtown Pittsburgh, and perhaps see a show. It’s less than an hour’s ride. We do it several times each month. That is when we are not driving to Cleveland. When we bought our house, it didn’t have screens because of the air conditioning. And we eat out at least 4 nights out of 7.

When I am home, I can watch television 24/7 on a 50” flat screen, or watch a DVD, or pay per view, or anything that is on the sports ticket. Books aren’t needed. Everything I need to know is on my computer and the internet. I can even shop from my desk with the click of a mouse or key stroke. We go away regularly for weekend trips, getting cheap hotel rooms on Priceline.com and flying with frequent flier miles. We can’t even go to the record store anymore. I get my tunes from Napster and I-tunes.

And you know what? I am bored. Perhaps that is the problem with young people today. There is nothing special anymore. There is nothing to look forward to. So we get “extreme” everything, from sports to drug use to tattoos to piercings. Maybe my friend was on to something. I think I will buy some charcoal and Hibachi this weekend and roast some marshmallows. Maybe what is special is what we took for granted 10 years ago.