{"id":1540,"date":"2013-07-28T22:50:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T02:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2013-07-29T08:27:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T12:27:50","slug":"earn-your-cool-merit-badge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/2013\/07\/28\/earn-your-cool-merit-badge\/","title":{"rendered":"Earn Your \u201cCool\u201d Merit Badge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"young<\/a><\/p>\n

First of all, don\u2019t say merit badge, no one says that any more.\u00a0 And don\u2019t say, that doctor, cop, fireman, dentist, pilot, looks twelve.\u00a0 You sound old and that\u2019s not cool. \u00a0Learn not to say anything; learn to listen to younger people. That\u2019s right, you heard me, just listen.\u00a0 What you\u2019ll find is amazing.<\/p>\n

When it comes to music most people tend to stay with what they know.\u00a0 My problem is I don\u2019t really know too much about music so I don\u2019t stay with any one thing.\u00a0 I\u2019m always hearing something different and loving so many different kinds of music I can\u2019t be pigeon holed. Case in point, I go to a Zumba class a few months ago taught by a 40 year old (to mostly other 30-40 year olds) and she is gag gag over Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Thrift Shop in class that day.\u00a0 I can\u2019t help myself and send her this on Facebook from December 2012:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/event\/music\/166256822\/macklemore-ryan-lewis-tiny-desk-concert<\/a><\/p>\n

The reply: \u201cThat\u2019s so cool Sandi!\u201d Just sayin.\u00a0 We might not listen to the same type of music all the time but we tend to listen in the same way.\u00a0 For me, eyes closed, head back and forth sometimes tears from out the corners of my eyes.\u00a0 Or possibly spurred on to dance around my living room or a Zumba class.\u00a0 You\u2019ve seen it\u2026hopefully you\u2019ve done it because it makes you cool.<\/p>\n

On vacation recently, I overheard\u00a0the little boy said, \u201cGrandpa I can see the fish swimming near your hook\u201d Grandpa said, \u201cCool\u201d.\u00a0 Extreme generations tend to think the same.\u00a0 The middle generation is all control this and accommodate that and live up to someone else\u2019s standards.\u00a0 At a certain age those things are no longer important nor are they relevant just as it was when you were a child.\u00a0So listen to them, they get it.<\/p>\n

Ever see the way young people decorate?\u00a0 They surround themselves with things they love.\u00a0 Our family friend Jeanette taught me that a million years ago.\u00a0 To this day I believe in the same thing, surround yourself with things you love, somehow it will all work.\u00a0 So a young people\u2019s things might not be my taste but it is my style.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the distinction between younger people and me (and possibly you).\u00a0 Here\u2019s where you earn your cool.\u00a0 When asked about similar events in our lives, like a first date, young people will give you all the details.\u00a0 They can recall the clothes they were wearing, the music, the weather, all the minutia.\u00a0 We can\u2019t really do that anymore but what we can do is put our memories in context.\u00a0 We come from different angles but can share the same story.\u00a0 We have the benefit of context, context can equal cool.\u00a0 You can relate, you can\u2019t recall.\u00a0 Somehow it works.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t ever be surprised by how much younger people care.\u00a0 I heard a wonderful story tonight at a wake I attended.\u00a0 It was just a tiny little tribute to a granddaughter who had the foresight to give her grandmother a book.\u00a0 It was a legacy book, filled with questions that could be answered easily and cherished for a lifetime.\u00a0 Questions like what was your favorite movie to much more probing and personal questions.\u00a0 The wake was for her grandmother.\u00a0 The entire family will be sharing those memories together.\u00a0 They will be touched by the look of the handwriting and saying things like, I didn\u2019t know that.\u00a0 They will be laughing and crying together all originated by a wonderful young woman.\u00a0 How cool.<\/p>\n

In my never ending quest to be the favorite Aunt, safe place, coconspirator, aspiring wise woman, I will be ever grateful for every \u201ccool\u201d that comes out of their mouths.\u00a0 They are indeed merit badges\u2026.I know like I know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First of all, don\u2019t say merit badge, no one says that any more.\u00a0 And don\u2019t say, that doctor, cop, fireman, dentist, pilot, looks twelve.\u00a0 You sound old and that\u2019s not cool. \u00a0Learn not to say anything; learn to listen to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pause-points"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27hQ5-oQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1540"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1546,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}