Other "Rip Van Winkle" moments

I am sure that most of us have had them.  It is as if these things happened overnight.  I suspect we really knew that these things were going on based upon conversations with friends and family.  Two other moments come to mind for me.

I used to belong to the Columbia Record club.  You know the one.  Get 12 record albums for $0.99 (plus shipping & handling) and agree to purchase so many at the regular price within a couple of years.  In the late 80's, the selection for LP's and cassette tapes was diminishing.  CD's had become the rave.  Unfortunately, I had to go buy a CD player and figure what to do with and how to play all my music contained in the older formats.

We used to go to Blockbuster to rent movies.  At first, the DVD section was relegated to a small corner of the store.  Slowly, I saw how the DVD section continued to encroach upon the VHS space.  Ultimately, the VHS space became the stepchild of rental selections and relegated to its own corner.  Upon seeing this, I realized that I must have been the only person in Richmond who did not own a DVD player.

Finally, after 120 million people had purchased iPods, I recognized that once again I was behind the wave.  When Dr. Charles Stanley of InTouch Ministries mentioned podcasts available from his website, I realized that iPods had become a major player in the audio market.

I am hoping that others, too, have had such moments lest I am relegated to a life of being the modern day Rip Van Winkle without the benefit of having snoozed for 20 years.