My Parents Were Awesome

The possibility that my parents were ever young, attractive, and fun to be around never really crossed my mind until I reached adulthood.

Or, at least, until I felt like I had reached adulthood.

But yes, those two squares that brought me into this world kicking and screaming were, at one point in the not-so-distant past, young and invincible and in love like two dumb kids should be. That is, until they settled down, got married, and squeezed out a few little snot-nosed smartasses like myself. Did they ever regret that choice? Probably. But at least they enjoyed their glory days.

A couple years ago, Canadian Club whisky had an advertising campaign that first brought the possibility of my parents ever being any fun at all to my attention. Known as the ‘Damn Right, Your Dad Drank It’ campaign, these ads are rife with the sexism and gaudy styles that make the 60s and 70s so lopsidedly appealing to me.

And, while these ads suggest that your mother was something of a whore and your father was closer to a cigar-smoking character from Mad Men than the guy that came to every one of your high school football games, you can’t argue with the fact that these things immediately make you think.

It’s hard for us to look into the future and accept the fact that we’re going to end up like our parents. Yet, someday you too will be the grizzled and greyed mid-lifer who has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. You’ll be the one holding up Christmas morning with your cantankerous grumblings about the holidays being such a big pain in the ass.

Difficult, though it may be to imagine, your parents were once like you.

‘My Parents Were Awesome‘ is the time capsule that I think best puts this into perspective. This blog lets you submit old photographs of your parents and posts them without any explanation beyond the names that get submitted with the image.

From the handlebar mustaches to the powder-blue tuxedos, our parents were actually once a cool group of people.

Before we came along, that is.