I've been trying to decode my parents for years. I'm GenX, and they are Silent Gen. Straight out of Mad Men: Mom was a flight attendant in the 60s, before air travel was horrible, and being part of an airline held a certain status. Dad was a cop, in the sixties, in San Francisco, during all of that.

Their code, just as every generation has some code of ethics, was unique. They were able to grow up during the war and depression, thus strengthening them, and come of age in a time of plenty. As far as I can tell, the collective values seemed to be:

1 - Religion. Everybody goes to church. Even if you hate it or don't believe. You just show up and attend Sundays.

2 - Family. The Father is the head of the household. Pure Pater Familias stuff here: children and wife are a form of property. As head, the male makes the important decisions.

3 - Music. Something much more soothing than the Swing music their parents listened to: Percy Faith, Perry Como, etc. You want something to play at parties for the purpose of stimulating conversations.

4 - Parties. Parties were a big part of our parent's lives. They weren't just about drinking, although they did have a lot of that. They were about social gatherings, and pecking orders. One party could get one into the right clubs, the right organizations, etc. When choosing guests, the higher up the pecking order the better.

5 -Outward personality. It was go along to get along. You didn't speak your mind, and after speaking with someone for hours, you still couldn't tell their religion or politics.

6 - Children. Children were to be seen and not heard. You didn't teach them anything yourself, but expected them to figure it out.

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So from these values, and from our parents' experiences - what can we learn?

What mistakes can we avoid, and which ones can we utilize?

And - is there something beyond this in the reading of our parents that I am missing?

That is, into the world that is my nighttime dreams

Which is kind of complicated

There is an established order in my dreams

There is also a DISORDER

And reality being reality, I know I cannot enter them

Rather than in dreams....

Pretty straightforward