When my husband, Mark, was growing up in Seychelles life was pretty basic. (Keep in mind that he was born in 1966, not 1926, so it wasn't all that long ago.) There was no electricity until after he left the nest, and my in-laws didn't have a phone until the mid-90s.

A small generator was used in the evenings in his later childhood, but kerosene lanterns provided most light, food was bought and used daily as there was no refrigeration, and washing was all done by hand.

One of the many long-lasting effects of this quaint, and in some ways idyllic, childhood comes up with us often ... his almost total lack of cultural references.

Juxtaposed against my American background ... my 1950s and '60s in-the-middle-of-it-all youth ... the contrast is striking.

Mark had never heard of the Mickey Mouse Club, much less reserved part of his brain for the words to the theme song (not to mention, "Proverbs, proverbs, they're so true ... Proverbs tell us what to do ... Proverbs help us all to be ... better Mouseketeers!"). In fact, the whole "Wonderful World of Disney" thing completely passed him by ... no Snow White (or dwarfs), no Bambi, no singing crickets wishing upon stars. (He did, later, develop a relationship with Mowgli, however, as he quickly earned that nickname when he moved to England and his buddies learned that climbing coconut trees was one of his many talents.)

Hepburn, Bogart, Gable, Stewart, Cary Grant ... who?

The few films that did come to Seychelles were taken around the districts and projected onto sheets hung between trees, and consisted almost entirely of Tarzan movies. In later years, the James Bond flicks were popular, as he, like Tarzan, was widely admired for those most amazing feats. You see, folks had little concept of acting and the art of filmmaking, so assumed what they were seeing was real.

By the time he hit his teens, music was coming in from other countries. Bob Marley was a big hit here, but other than that genre the depth of musical background is sparse. He had actually heard of the Beatles, but that's about as far as Mark's knowledge of classic rock goes.

Can we agree that he'll never appear on Jeopardy?

This rather long train of thought will be passing through here again in the next post.