I received the following email from a friend and just had to post it here. When you get to the end you might understand why I posted it, that and the fact that recently I have been exploring senior blogs, or seniors who are blogging about growing older in today’s society. Not that I actually went in search of blogs about growing old but more because the blog I just designed has become a voice for aging in todays world. A coincidence? I doubt it.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.
The Grandma replied, “Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
- television
- penicillin
- polio shots
- frozen foods
- Xerox
- contact lenses
- Frisbees
- and the pill.
There was no:
- radar
- credit cards
- laser beams or
- ball-point pens.
Man had not invented:
- pantyhose
- air conditioners
- dishwashers
- clothes dryers
- and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air
- and man hadn’t yet walked on the moon.
Your Grandfather and I got married first-and then lived together.
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, “Sir”- and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, “Sir.”
We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President’s speeches on our radios.
And I don’t ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with ‘Made in Japan’ on it, it was junk.
The term ‘making out’ referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn’t want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:
- “grass” was mowed
- “coke” was a cold drink
- “pot” was something your mother cooked in
- and “rock music” was your grandmother’s lullaby
- “Aids” were helpers in the Principal’s office
- “chip” meant a piece of wood
- “hardware” was found in a hardware store
- and “software” wasn’t even a word
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us “old and confused” and say there is a generation gap… and how old do you think I am?
I bet you have this really old lady in mind…you are in for a shock!
This Woman would be only 58 years old!!!
Pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
I, personally, don’t think it’s scary nor sad. Well … maybe a little scary since I am 58 years young myself and entering the finial stage of my life. But for me it’s also a victory since my own mother did not live to experience her grandchildren growing into productive human beings, witness their marriages, see her great-grandchildren, or taste the fruits of her labors come to fruition.
And the only real sad part is looking back at the missed opportunities, which is something I intend to write about someday.
I look at the above list and feel amazement at the changes that have been made in my lifetime. I feel blessed to have been a witness to it all, even to those thing/events that were not so wonderful.
We’ve come along way, haven’t we? I wonder what the generation that was our grandparents’ generation would have to say about life.
Hummm, I only had one grandparent growing up, all the others died at an early age, and she didn’t tell stories about her life, past or present. How sad really … come to think about it, I don’t tell my grandchildren stories about my past either. Maybe I need to start telling them or maybe it’s only when the young gets older that they begin to enjoy the stories of their parents and grandparents. I do know that my grandchildren are not that curious about my past, though my 12 year old granddaughter is curious about her parents past. The 17 year old could care less.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I did have time to listen to my Grandmother but I regret not writing down the wonderful things she shared with me. Now she, my parents, and my aunt are all gone and there is no one to ask! At 70 I am the authority and I can’t remember half the things I should!
Hi, momma! I feel like I know you because I have visited your blog a number of times and I’ve read your comments on Maria’s blog. I know what you mean about writing the old stories down or they will forever be forgotten. I have one aunt left who has many of the stories from my fathers side of the family in her memory banks. She is truly a story teller and I’ve been meaning to record the stories for about 9 years now, ever since my father died. She is 81 now and her health is poor so I need to get serious about getting those stories in writing. Plus, she has old photos of family members that I never met and I want to get names put on them and make copies of all the photos of past relatives for my own children.
Ah, so much to do and so little time to do it in. Too bad that simple fact of living life is not realized until old age sneaks up on you. But maybe it’s better that way. Who wants to worry about how much one can do or not do in a single lifetime? Instead, we just do it, for better or worse and don’t think that death waits for us at the end of a lifeline. The young are usually in the hear and now, what the future might bring is not a part of the hear and now. If it were, we might not live in any moment and miss the experience completely. What a concept … perhaps I should adopt the moment more fully.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
That’s a nice walk down memory lane, but if you actually knew history, you’d know that the “This Woman would be only 58 years old!!!” is bogus.
For a real shock, read my assessment:
The two oldest items in the article are contact lens and the dishwasher.
Contact Lens
In 1888, “Two independent researchers, A. Eugen Fick, a Swiss physician, and Paris optician Edouard Kalt, almost simultaneously report using contact lenses to correct optical defects.” But they worked in Europe.
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/education/public/history.htm
Contact lens were introduced into the United States for commercial use inl 1924. (The Pocket Book of Famous First Facts, Lens; Contact Lens, page 263). They were not approved for general use until 1945.
Thus, any Granny living in the United States could have been as young as 81 or if the concept is “being familiar with a person having contact lens,” 60.
Dishwashers
Going to the next oldest item, dishwashers (1893).
The US Patent Office records show that Josephine Garis Cochran invented the first useful dishwasher in Shelbyville, Illinois and received patent # 355,139 on December 28, 1886. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/01-62.htm
The Book of Firsts, Dish-washing Machine, pages 90-91, that it was invented by Mrs. W. A. Cockran of Shelbyville, Indiana, with the final working machine running in 1889 (She worked on it for 10 years). “She built various models, some for family and others for hotel use.”
However, Mrs. Cockran’s big break came with the 1893 Columbian Exposition (AKA 1893 Chicago World’s Fair) when she exhibited the machines and had her new machines in some of the kitchens. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1476.htm
So, since the Columbia Exposition was a major event, I’ll go with 1893 as the earliest date that Granny would not have seen any of the inventions (i.e., before the Exposition opened).
Thus, I’ll say that if Granny lives in the US, she would have had to be at least 112 years old (as of 2005), but no more unless she helped Mrs. Cochran with the development of the dishwasher. Since most of the “oldest living person in the United States” have lived to about that age, perhaps there are one or two or three who could make the claim of “being born before television, penicillin, . . . ..”
Nice exercise in the history of technology.
Hello Russ, thanks for taking the time to comment. FYI, I didn’t write the above history information but I didn’t question it much either since it was basically my own history I was reading about.
I think whoever wrote this was actually referring to what the majority of people had or didn’t have in their lives, you know, what was common. I remember the first time I heard about Television. A friend got one, even though they could only get one channel, she became very popular. I was 7 years old.
I’m sure there is technology that has been or is being invented now that I’ve never heard of and may never hear about. So, for me it doesn’t yet exist as apparently those things written about didn’t exist for the author. I suppose it could have been worded a bit differently to make it more factually correct but emotions aren’t factual and this piece of writing was definitely emotional.