What about hot dogs?

It is the Fourth of July weekend. Watermelon, potato salad, corn on the cob, barbequed hamburgers and Hot Dogs are common fare for the weekend. As a child I loved hot dogs! I continued to enjoy them into my early adult life. I think it was about the age of 25 when I began to learn about what was really in the food I was eating.  “Knowledge is power” or so the saying goes. I like “Ignorance is Bliss” much better.  If you haven’t done the research I won’t spoil the all American hot dog for you by sharing my knowledge. Suffice it to say that I don’t enjoy hot dogs anymore. 

The older I get the more things in my life end up like hot dogs.  Tap water with all its unknown toxic particles, is it really safe to drink? Ice cream with so much animal fat and processed sugar,  supposedly  the source of the dimply cottage cheesey look to my bare thighs?  Does Tina Turner eat ice cream? Sun bathing by the pool to get a nice tan, skin cancer is so ugly!  Filling the car with gas and driving down the road just to get out of the house, who can afford such extravagance? 

On the other hand, watermelon used to have so many seeds we had to eat them outside so we could spit the seeds in the lawn. Typing business letters used to involve carbon paper, very messy, and require error free typing skills. Phones were attached to cords which were attached to the wall and when there was no answer you called back another time. Wait, I think the phone goes with the hot dogs…cell phones are a pain! I do like being able to watch a movie or television series at my leisure and to fast forward through the commercials.

I have a few more good years left I think before I check out the great beyond. Sometimes I find myself whiling away my day thinking about what new ideas will grab hold in our culture and spin us around into uncharted territories. Then I wonder how many more I will be able to incorporate into my life successfully without the help of my grandchildren.  The two and three year old grandchildren can already do more things with my cell phone than I knew possible.  We eat hot dogs to celebrate our independence.  I don’t enjoy the hot dogs anymore but I feel like I need to celebrate what independence I still have before it too is not all it was cracked up to be!  Happy Independence Day!