On low testosterone and back seat drivers 3/20/2020

Oh the things our parents used to let us get away with. When the rules of the day were, “Be home in time for dinner at 6,” and then you could go out and do whatever the hell you wanted. We had toy guns, chocolate cigarettes and cigars, nobody heard of a bicycle helmet or a seat belt, and bread and pasta were good for you. Did our generation turn to “helicopter parenting” as a result from being left alone to do crazy stuff, or do we just know more than we used to and are living in more dangerous times? We suspect the answer lies somewhere in the middle. In any case, it’s fun to revist our youth and this is more about John’s youth than Andy’s, since Andy grew up in NYC and didn’t take as many car trips. We used to think we were sooooo funny, sitting in the back seat of the woody station wagon, no seat belts, hatch door open, when any unsuspected bump could send us hurtling on to the highway (somehow, thankfully, that never happened) and then shooting water pistols at the cars behind us. Could you imagine pulling out a toy gun and pointing it at an unsuspecting driver today? The other driver would call 911 and report you, the cops would stop you and you’d lose custody while your kids spent the rest of their lives in foster care. Maybe that’s a tad extreme, but it’s that kind of thinking that lead to becoming helicopter parents in the first place. Andy would like to revisit his parenting techniques and just tell the kids, “Be home in time for dinner at 6,” but that probably won’t work since a) both of the kids are over 30 and b) they live on their own and c) we never eat before 7.

Onto comic #2, which is a more sensitive subject. We both notice that we are more prone to getting emotional while watching a sappy movie or reading a sad book these days. More than in the past. When you lift your glasses to swipe the tears away while watching Sleepless in Seattle (Andy) or grab an extra Kleenex brand tissue (sorry, we were both in advertising for decades and can’t help ourselves) to dab at our eyes during an old war movie (John), the fact is that something is going on. Some scientists link this new emotionality to a drop in testosterone, something NO man would ever want to think was happening to him. Changing, not admitting to the changes, this is where the potential for comedy lives. Now let us make one thing perfectly clear. Neither Andy nor John’s weepiness at the aforementioned prompts has ANYTHING to do with lowered testosterone. That’s just our characters in The New 60, not us. Okay? Good now that we’ve cleared that up, we need to go back and watch the end of “The Notebook.”

Have a great weekend, wash your hands and we’ll see you next week with our take on coping in these Coronavirus times.

Andy and John