JAWS

I'm watching Jaws.

Life was a whole lot simpler in 1975.

We were watching the movie and commenting in 1975 we didn't have cell phone mania. Technology was lacking and we actually didn't sit in front of the TV constantly. We were on the move. If we wanted to see a movie we went to the theatre. The 400 DVDs I currently have in my collection wasn't even a thought or a remote possibility. If I had been told that I'd have that many movies sitting in my home at one time I'd have thought I was crazy. Either that or living in excess.

I remember that I couldn't wait to see this movie. My cousin Phillip did the set decoration and that was the talk of the family. He was SO cool. I remember seeing him when I was in school and I always loved him. He had the greatest stories. It was rumored that he was gay. In the 70's that wasn't a subject that anyone spoke about. Well, not in my family anyway. Phillip was just "that way." He got the academy award for his set direction for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We were so proud of him. He loved his work but was very secretive about his life. The pressure he must have lived under trying to contain his sexuality from his family. Very sad.

Life was simpler back then. No one was immediately accessible. I rather like that. It's disconcerting to be standing in a doctors office and hearing the trials and tribulations of another's life. I think we all get to hear more than we need to or, for that matter, want to. We walk in stores and people are on their cells. Anywhere we go people are speaking about their lives in public. Is there really a need or is there anything that is so immediate that we need to discuss it while grocery shopping? Bluetooth has us all looking like we're walking around talking to ourselves.

I'm just as guilty as anyone but there are times when a glimpse of the past rolls around that we think about the quality of life. What was better? Then or now? Progress has been wonderful but sometimes I like the thought of living in a time when the cell phone wasn't joined at my hip.

For now I'll watch the movie and smile that they were panic stricken because Quint beat the crap out of their only method of communication. It would have been simpler if he could have gotten on his cell and called the coast guard.

But then it wouldn't have been much of movie would it?