Becky Andrews

2 weeks ago | lebanondemocrat.com | Becky Andrews

If you’re a Generation X parent with Gen Z kids in their 20s, you’re likely familiar with this particular emotional rollercoaster: one minute you’re marveling at their confidence and clarity, and the next you’re yelling, “I don’t CARE if I didn’t remind you for the fourth time — TAKE OUT THE TRASH.” We, the latchkey generation who were raised on cableless television, microwaved popcorn, and pure emotional repression, are now raising Gen Z—the therapy-savvy, boundary-enforcing, oat...

3 weeks ago | lebanondemocrat.com | Becky Andrews

Since turning 50, I’ve reached a certain level of existential exhaustion where I’m no longer interested in pretending I like things just because I’m “supposed” to like them. If that means I lose cool points, so be it. Frankly, I never knew where to redeem those anyway. So let’s just get it all out in the open, shall we? Starting strong: the Friends theme song. I’ve been rewatching it lately. Yes, I love the show. But the theme? Nope.

1 month ago | lebanondemocrat.com | Becky Andrews

I was on my weekly check-in call with Jacob asking the usual. How’s work? How are the roommates? Why don’t you respond to the TikTok’s I send? It was a typical call. He filled me in on what’s been going on in his world. New job at the station. Roommates are good. Soon it was my turn to update him in on things here. New projects at home. Packing Jackson for his move to Ireland for study abroad. Then I tell him about all the things happening with his friends from elementary, junior high and high school.

1 month ago | lebanondemocrat.com | Becky Andrews

Mom and Dad,The next three words immediately preceding this sentence isn’t hard for me to say. YOU WERE RIGHT. You said, “When you have children of your own, I promise you will punish them when they screw up.”I thought, “Pfft. Whatevs. If my future children are anything like me, we’ll be fine. Not to mention, super cool.”You said, “You will not be their friend or at least not the kind of friend that a very selfish, know-it-all, sloppy, non-toilet flushing teen and young adult wants you to be.

1 month ago | lebanondemocrat.com | Becky Andrews

Besides the charging block used for cell phones, iPads, and watches, it’s probably the most powerful object in households. No matter what you call it —clicker, channel changer, or thingie, the television remote controls more than the televisions. It controls the mood. And since most of us have more than one remote, the chaos that ensues when one or more is lost or low on battery power can be earth-shattering.