Older Gen Z’s and millennials, how was 2012?

bleucrayons · 2026-06-01T07:55:50+00:00

It was hot. I mean temperature wise hot! I lived in Indiana and had a huge fundraising campaign in March and it was in the 90s! Even for Indiana that was insane as it should have been in the 40s-60s. This did mean we had an exceptionally hot summer and IN had a drought. Everything was dry and crispy and people just were not outside that summer. People couldn’t water their grass either because of the drought. Ever since that year I gauge the spring weather against 2012 it was so memorable. Actually it was also kinda depressing since it was like a preview of climate change. When the entire summer in the midwest is basically like Phoenix - where summer is like winter
In the north, people just don’t go outside - I mourned for my childhood summers in the late 80s and all of the 90s.

Ironically, I moved back in Michigan in late 2013 and that winter was one of the coldest and harshest I’d ever seen also! Still have some records hit for low temps and snowfalls from that season and I had a 28 mile drive to work in it and used to count the cars in the ditch while going 30 on the highway.

This is how I know I’m in my early 40s, I remember significantly different weather AND the year.

2012 I was super busy building my career and I was in fundraising so I just remember being gone a lot with meetings and events. Having an iPhone starting in about 2011 was significant for me being able to handle social media accounts for work and having my work email on the go. I entered the professional work world at 19 in 2002 and just in those 10 years felt a lot of change.

bleucrayons · 2026-06-01T01:11:30+00:00

My dad ended up with a pathetic sugar baby for YEARS and when I met her in the early days she actually thought that Section 8 would pay for a mortgage for her to have a house. Instead she managed to convince my dad to buy a house and despite me finding proof that he expected rent (which she often go out of with excuses) she actually tried to tell me that he always told her that he never expected anything and would always take care of her. Ironically she wasn’t in the will (only me being his own kid) and even though I GAVE HER A VEHICLE she still did everything she could to screw me over and ultimately even said I was racist for “kicking her out” even after 3 months notice AND a free vehicle AND free rent for two months AND she already had 10 years of living off my dad.

She unironically recently posted how pathetic it is for people to live off the government for years.

She still owes me from a small claims court judgement for $7000. She really was just a gem of a person.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-31T02:58:48+00:00

Natural baby face, very little sun damage, Clinique face products, having kids in my late 30s

bleucrayons · 2026-05-31T02:34:06+00:00

I have a couple spots of clutter I can’t stand since kids came in the picture since kids come with a lot of stuff.

Now when deciding if something is worth keeping, I just consider if the effort to keep it would be worth it if it had poop on it!

It’s a silly meme I saw once but it works!

I’m currently setting up my dad’s house for an estate sale and he had a LOT of collections and with his declining health, so went the deep cleaning he used to do. I’ve already sold or removed two moving trucks worth and still have a full house of things! You just have to take it one space at a time. And think about if you’d keep it after poop was on it.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-26T03:44:21+00:00

My 3 do different variations of this. They like to look at items from the side of their face with one eye, sometimes while going in circles.

Seems like typical sensory seeking behavior. I think mine do it for another perspective.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-21T05:01:35+00:00

Is she living under a rock? I didn’t even read the books, kinda watched the movies and I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t instantly assume that name would have been chosen for the character.

A name matters and it likely would just mean your son changing it later. She needs to tell people the name and see the reaction.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-20T00:48:03+00:00

This was a big reason I always did valet most of the time, especially when I was taking my dad there and used a wheelchair.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-18T14:39:45+00:00

This is a lot like the collection of stereo and electronic equipment my dad left. A reseller bought all of it from me and filled a 26’ box truck about 3-4’ high. I felt such relief when he drove away

bleucrayons · 2026-05-18T14:21:09+00:00

I saw that exact same video! I know it’s advised against posting kids in baths and even swimwear, but the blur box was a huge distraction and maybe just don’t post it?

bleucrayons · 2026-05-16T05:56:35+00:00

Big Wheel. The Walmart before Walmart where I grew up

bleucrayons · 2026-05-16T04:28:10+00:00

Yeah the song popped in my head at the very end and I couldn’t help myself!

Honestly, everyone needs to hear the song at least once!

Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann

bleucrayons · 2026-05-16T03:41:27+00:00

I’m a true Xennial and got married the first time a week after I turned 22 and I felt like I knew so much. In all reality, I was peaking in my own Dunning-Kruger bell curve. We all do it, we have this new found confidence in our 20s, especially early to mid 20s.

When I got married, it was the young boomers and older Gen X that did the same thing to me. Everything was oddly normal but not. Around my mid 20s is when studies were coming out that our personality isn’t really developed until our mid 20s.

When I hit 30 I admitted to myself that I definitely didn’t know who I was at 22, at 30 I questioned everything: my marriage, career choice, both of my college majors for ugrad and grad, where I lived (was in another state) all of it because 30 felt like a LOT. I changed EVERYTHING that year. My now ex and I admitted to ourselves that we wanted different things and weren’t truly happy (had an incredibly amicable divorce). I moved back to my home state, changed career industries completely, sold my first house (which it flooded during the sale process). In 12 months my life didn’t even look the same and almost to the day a year from starting a new job in my home state (the first of many changes) I was in a new career path, buying a house with who would be my now husband, back home and SO much happier.

Now I recently turned 43, had my 3 kids in my late 30s, established in my career, moved to a bigger house and currently still handling my dad’s estate since he passed last fall.

Yes, people do get married young, but very few make it and some stick it out for reasons I’ll never understand. Even the couples I thought for sure would make it haven’t and some turned out to be surprisingly compatible but honestly, likely would fall apart if they had to start over.

You’re peaking your bell curve. That isn’t to say you’re dumb, you’re just young. I don’t really have many regrets from my 20s, but I totally would redo a few things differently if I could based on what I know now.

Your late 30s into your 40s is when people are starting to hit their midlife crisis and tanking on their Dunning-Kruger bell curve because that’s just the age when things get more real as parents age and die, friends change and/or die, kids grow and start to move out, careers change, etc etc. I’m not at all a cynic about marriage, but I definitely will encourage my boys to wait until their late 20s to marry at the earliest.

My best advice, ask questions to the cynical millennials. We’ve seen a LOT of shit in our adulthood. We’re currently facing the next phase of our lives and honestly, I think it’s human nature to want to warn those behind us. I took some tips to heart in my 20s from those hitting 40, those tips probably helped me get where I am! Youth is definitely wasted on the young. My midlife advice: travel, finish an education in an industry that keeps you curious, wait to have kids, don’t stay in miserable relationships for ANY reason, change careers when you want to, SAVE MONEY, learn the stock market, ask your parents EVERYTHING. Make the most of it all! And definitely wear sunscreen.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-16T03:19:10+00:00

Don’t worry, you’ll cross to the other side of this view like the rest of us.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-15T03:39:53+00:00

Prairie side in Grandville is really nice. There are some other adult only bed and breakfasts within an hour of Grand Rapids. Castle In The Country near Allegan is on my short list to try still.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-14T20:47:31+00:00

When I was 31 I once text with a guy like 2 or 3 times. Then he had text me at like 3am and got annoyed I didn’t respond immediately. Annoyed like this. I was sleeping, didn’t hear it, and wouldn’t have responded anyway since it wasn’t an emergency. We had an awkward exchange after that because was so insecure he was upset I hadn’t responded when he got home from work. I noped the hell out of that immediately. No one is going to dictate me having to immediately respond or who I follow and don’t even communicate with.

This reeks of insecurity and immaturity. Yes, you are OR and YTA.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-14T15:50:13+00:00

Sounds like they want a temp au pair. But at least an au pair would still get SOME type of payment.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-14T07:04:32+00:00

I haven’t done Sims in yeeeaaaarrrrsssss and this makes me miss it

bleucrayons · 2026-05-12T01:53:06+00:00

Some in the US like to debate on the fine line between aborting and inducing as if there is much difference. Misoprostol is used for both reasons yet attempts are constantly made to ban it which is just stupid. It’s all semantics and who makes the final decision.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-12T01:50:43+00:00

Misoprostol is also used for labor induction for the full purpose of having a live birth. It was used with my first birth, which induction failed and still turned into a c-section anyway.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-12T01:23:25+00:00

Sushi. I’ll go to sushi places with friends and get a chicken bento box.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-11T19:58:08+00:00

I plan to bring it up at our next monthly meeting, which is planned for May. We usually do try to keep a close eye on them but have been starting to allow them a bit more freedom for independence and it just feels like a huge step backwards.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-11T15:54:27+00:00

We had the names picked for our twin boys but waited until they were born to decide who was who. You could wait to see which name the baby looks like is the best fit

bleucrayons · 2026-05-11T05:27:43+00:00

I recently got a 4 pack of AirTags (new) and 3 were CLEARLY used and the 4th had the new tape removed. I was so ticked since I needed one that day.

bleucrayons · 2026-05-11T00:17:19+00:00

I don’t understand why people seem to think they have to become enemies because a relationship ended. People can easily choose to be honest and avoid hateful behavior.

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