The funny thing is that most of us never know we're doing something for the last time. There wasn't a ceremony when I rented my last movie or printed my last set of directions. One day it happened, and I didn't realize it would be the last.
That's what this week's post is about: some of the things I did for years that quietly disappeared from my life. There was no fanfare when they ended. One day I simply stopped doing them and never realized it was the last time.
Having a newspaper delivered to our home or picking one up at the grocery store was once a normal part of life. I do not recall the last time I bought a newspaper. For that matter, I do not recall the last time I read one. It is one of those activities that ended, and I did not realize it would be the last time. It was so long ago that I do not even remember when it last occurred.
For a while, I had our local paper here in Topeka delivered electronically to my mobile devices. I enjoyed it, but eventually I let the subscription expire and never went back. Where do I get my local news now? I rely on Really Simple Syndication (RSS). No matter where I am or what I am doing, I read through my RSS feeds every morning and throughout the day. I stay current on local, national, and technology news through those feeds.
Reviewing and printing maps for a trip was a process. I can remember having pages printed with a route, notes about what was available along the way, and highlighted directions for the trip. The papers would sit in the passenger seat. If Carrie or someone else was traveling with me, they would be responsible for making sure we stayed on the correct route. If it was a solo trip, I might have to pull off to the side of the road to read through the directions and make sure I was headed the right way. Now, of course, all of that is on our phones, and there is rarely a need to print directions or even look up a trip ahead of time.
One thing I do miss is burning CDs for a trip. I would spend time ahead of a trip compiling songs and carefully selecting music that fit the journey. Once everything was ready, I would burn the songs to a CD and use a Sharpie to label it appropriately for the trip. I would guess that if I went through some of the boxes in our basement, I would still find a few of those old CDs I created for road trips or simply for the fun of having a disc filled with my favorite songs.
As many of you know, I watch a lot of television series and movies. I remember making sure the DVR was set to record a show. If we were away from home and someone mentioned a program that was on that night, there was no way to remotely set the DVR to record it. The technology simply was not there. Recordings had to be planned ahead of time.
I never owned a TiVo, which I know was popular for many people through the years. We used an old-school VCR to record shows and later relied on the DVRs provided by Cox and Dish. It was not until years later that Dish added the ability to schedule a recording through an app while away from home. If a game or another event ran long and I was not home to extend the recording, I would often miss part of whatever I had planned to watch.
Some of the things I've stopped doing have nothing to do with technology. There are restaurants I used to visit regularly. Stores that no longer exist. Routes I drove every day in previous jobs. Even roads and routines that once felt permanent and familiar have faded away.
What strikes me is not that these things disappeared. Change is inevitable.
What fascinates me is how quickly something can move from being an ordinary part of everyday life to becoming a memory. At one point, I could not imagine living without some of these things. Today, I rarely think about them at all.
Working in technology, I spend a lot of time thinking about what is next. Maybe I should spend a little more time noticing what quietly slipped away.
It also makes me wonder what I am doing today that will seem equally outdated twenty years from now. What routines feel permanent today but will quietly disappear without me noticing?
I do not know the answer, but I am pretty sure there will be a last time I do some ordinary thing this week, and I will not realize it until years later.
Until next time, enjoy your routines and reflect on the things you no longer do but never noticed had disappeared. Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week.