The Six Million Dollar Man

You're only going to get this post if you're of a certain age...  Sad to say, I really am dating myself here....

Do you remember the Six Million Dollar Man?  Steve Austin was an astronaut who was in a training accident in a jet.  In the opening scenes, clips of the accident were shown while the announcer says "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.  We have the technology.  We have the capacity to make the world's first bionic man.  Steve Austin will be that man.  Better than he was before.  Better, stronger, faster."

And then, there was the theme music "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah".  (So, if you've ever seen that show before, I now have the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day!)

Do you remember the special effects?  The super-slow motion clips of Steve doing something with that bionic twang in the background to let you know that he was doing bionic stuff? 

Last night, we stumbled across the Six Million Dollar Man on one of those retro television stations.  I don't remember which one we were on, I just know it was the "other" station off of our local NBC station.

I had to watch it.

My daughter was in stitches over the clothing and hair.  Every time some new guy walked on screen in what was considered the height of fashion in the 70's, she would laugh so hard she cried.  I have to admit, those were some special clothes!

But that wasn't the best part.

I was reminiscing about how we used to play "Six Million Dollar Man" at recess.  We'd run in super slow motion across the playground.  We'd play kick ball, and everyone moved in super slow motion while the kid running the bases ran as fast as he could.  We perfected the "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah" song and would sing it at lunch time while walking in super slow motion to our lunch tables.  I laughed until I cried as I recalled the feats of strength we would attempt to perform on the playground with hedge apples and lunch boxes. 

My husband and daughter both stared at me for a long time.  Honestly, my husband is the same age as I am.  He's six months older than me.  I thought every kid played the Six Million Dollar Man at recess.  He claims they never played Six Million Dollar Man.  Either he's lying, or he went to a very boring elementary school.

My daughter was another story.  After staring at me for a long time, she finally asked in a small voice "Did the entire class play Six Million Dollar Man, or was it just you?" 
"No," I reassured her, "It was the entire school.  Remember, my school only had two classes per grade level.  It was a very small school, and the entire school had lunch and recess together." 

"Sure" she said.

I'm still laughing over the memories, and the wonderful blast from the past.

I'm going to go clean my kitchen using my bionic speed now - in super slow motion so that the human eye will be capable of actually seeing what I am doing!