Multiple Sclerosis is uncool
The world is coming to an end!
Perhaps that statement is a little extreme. But when I saw the commercial that was my first thought.
What commercial you ask?
The one where Henry Winkler tries to get people 62 and older to contact him about a reverse mortgage.
You remember Henry Winkler of course; he was the coolest of the cool. He was the Fonz and no one was cooler. By his own admission, Elvis was close but that was all,.
Fonzie wasn’t just cool for the 50’s, the time period when Happy Days took place, but for the seventies and eighties too.
Personally, I was never cool. But I was somewhat smart and as a somewhat smart person, I knew how to recognize cool immediately, even in my own family.
When I was 10 I had an adorable male cousin who was 6, always in trouble and funny. And I just knew he was cool. So cool that when my aunt bought him an Evel Knievel doll for Christmas, he had no qualms about announcing that he was disappointed as he already had it. And none of the adults thought that was rude.
I then horrified my family by stating that I would love to take it off his hands. It was not cool for a 10 year old girl to want to play with an Evel Knievel doll. But, being smart, I only wanted the doll so it could be my Barbie’s new boyfriend. And how much cooler could Barbie be than by dumping Ken and taking up with Evel Knievel as a new boyfriend?
Now I’m in my forties and being cool or uncool isn’t as important, or so I thought. But Henry Winkler being a spokesman for something only available to people over 62???? That is very upsetting and very, very uncool.
Since I’m not in my sixties, not quite yet anyway, my reaction to this commercial was a little drastic. But the most upsetting part was when Fonzie said those who called and requested the free reverse mortgage packet would also get a free magnifier with an LED light so they could better read the info.
Why was this upsetting? Because I had just bought one a few months ago!!
Yes, I already have a magnifier with an LED light and I actually paid for it.
Yes, I was offended that my over 62 friends could get one free when I had to pay for mine but the bigger issue is when and where did I start needing something like that?
The even bigger issue is when did Fonnzie lose his coolness and what does that mean for the rest of us who aren’t cool but need people like him to help us through this uncool world? I worry that when Fonzie is no longer cool the world as we know it has likely come to an end.
One of the many super sucky things multiple sclerosis has done in my life is to make me feel as if I am aging rapidly and in confusing and upsetting ways.
One minute I’m a child and “I need to go potty RIGHT NOW” and in another minute I’m an old lady who “is feeling a little unsteady sonny, can you help me cross the street?”
And this concern shouldn’t be a cosmetic one but let’s face it, it is. Last spring I got carded buying a bottle of wine. Only six months later I was walking my three year old great nephew down the street when a neighbor asked if he was my grandson.
I’m used to being uncool. And I know that MS is a very uncool illness. To help me better cope with it I need the cool reminders of my youth.
I need to know that MS hasn’t robbed me of all of my most important skills.
I need to know that I still know cool when I see it.
MS=Not Cool
Henry Winkler advertising products for the older crowd= Not Cool
Fonzie in his best Fonzie years- Cool
My family, friends and readers= Super Cool!
Guess I still have that skill after all….
I recognize cool, too. The weather this week is most definitely cool. While that may be cool with you, Yvonne, the cool is highly uncool to me!
(Are we talking about the same thing?)
Yes, it’s true. I think the cool is cool.
Well I don’t have MS but I am at times silly like a teenager and other times just a boring old woman… I have had to wear glasses for past 2 years everytime that i use the computer or need to read labels on medications which makes me feel OLD… Well remember people we liked back then have aged too lets see Scream Queen JamieLeighCurtis is spokeswomen for yogart that keeps you regular, Valeri Bertinelli and Marie Osmond are spokes women for weight loss companies..And songs I remember loving like Rock you like a hurricane are used in commercials,,,
Wait til you see this week’s blog!
And let’s face it who even knows what cool is anymore, by the time I start learning these phrases they are onto something else
Ya, but you have several teenagers who have named you “the cool mom!”
yeah well thinking that maybe just a con job to make me feel like they want to be around me
You are too cool to think like that 🙂
I love your sense of humor! The Evil Knievel doll stealing Barbie away from Ken is an awesome idea! When I was young it was my brother’s GI Joe doll. Thanks for making me smile.
Thank you so much Leslie and thank you for checking out my blog! If I didn’t have my sense of humor to make fun of the crazy in this chronic illness world then I would be crazy for sure! We need to smile and I’m so glad my blog brought you a smile!