Exhibit A: You are watching the movie 17 Again (the reason that particular Netflix gem showed up just as all of the Oscar-nominated movies are finally available is a story for another time. Probably entitled “how you know you’re lame”).
Anyways, you are watching and realize the first scene is a flashback scene – and then you ask your husband, “Is this a flashback to when he was in high school? Why aren’t they all dressed in 70’s clothes?” And your husband laughs and reminds you that the main character – the washed-up middle-aged guy who goes back to his youth – is YOUR AGE. And therefore went to high school in the late 80’s/early 90’s just like you did. And that you are now the age of the PARENTS in teen-angst movies.
Exhibit B: You are discussing a recent injury your brother-in-law undisclosed friend sustained at a recent Bad Religion concert. Your husband chimes in with a story about how he got a black eye at a concert once. To which you reply, “What concert? When did you go to a concert? You don’t go to concerts. Was this a real concert? That you actually paid for? Not just one that [concert promoter friend] got you into? I don’t believe you.”
And he replies, “Yes, I did. I totally used to go to concerts. And I got a black eye in the mosh pit. It was that band with three letters. What was it . . . ?”
REM?
“No. Harder than that”
ACDC?
“No. More mainstream. Three letters. I think they were called NPR?”
Oh dear.
[Upon further reflection, grandpa Mark was able to deduce that he sustained a black eye at a POD concert back in the glory days of 2001.]
Exhibit C: You hear the Supertones are making a comeback tour, so you go in search of a photo from the vault, back in the days when the band traveled in a little van and crashed on your floor in Cincinnati. You barely recognize the young people in that little studio apartment.
Exhibit D: Your nephew GOES TO PROM.
