Reflection

We took a trip to Grandpa's house last weekend. I was talking about my e-reader, my new; and possibly forever; favorite toy. My uncle said "go get it, show grandpa". My dear sweet grandfather is 97 years old. He's done more than I can ever imagine, the world has change in ways through his life that are amazing to me. When my grandfather was born, there was no TV, when he had a job at the filling station, gas was 13 cents a gallon, he played baseball for the equivilent of the minor leagues before he married my grandmother and she told him that he had to go to church, so he quit playing baseball and went to church, he played softball with the church well into his 60s. He had quite the arm as a young man, he passed that on to his children who tried to pass that on to me, I can remember my dad's youngest sister trying to teach me how to throw a soft ball, I'm not too shabby, but nothing in the leagues of Grandpa on his greatest day. My grandpa farmed his land for a long time, I remember the fantastic garden that he had on his acre there in Colfax, the trees that he's cultivated from topping from trees on my eldest aunt's ranch. When my uncle got a package of those seed sheets, the one that are supposed to be so easy to plant, just lay down and water, grandpa made me cut them up into strips and plant them in rows, he sitting in a chair with an umbrella over him while I did the work and my uncle snickered in the corner. He told me to let go when I wanted to hold onto all the stuff from my moms house, he drove me to Reno when I decided to go to school, he took me to task when he felt I was too old to ask for money, but gave it to me anyway because he knew I wouldn't ask if I didn't need it. He never says too much about what he's thinking, but always knows what is important to me, what's going on in my life, and always rides me about taking care of my diabetes and watching my weight. So I went and go the e-reader.
I loaded up a book and handed it over to Grandpa, expecting he would make a cursory glance of the thing and hand it back with a "hmph". No, I was wrong, he took it, reading the enlarged print voraciously, finishing up the first chapter before turning it over and examining it. Handing it back, with a "boy, the things they come up with."
Uncle asked if he wanted one, he said with a smile "I'd sure like that" So, when my mother's sister's sent a generous gift, I went to Best Buy and investigated. I returned yesterday to take him a Kindle Touch 3G. He and my uncle and aunt will have a fun time getting to figure it out, but when I handed it to him, his eyes lit up.
So many people in my life are wonderful role models for myself and my children, what a blessing it is to reach 35 and have my grandfather to go home to, to share the wonders of technology with, and to love. The Lord is good, blessings abound.

Time marches on - Or, Am I Really that OLD?!

I'm usually oblivious to the passing of time. The years between now and 1995 don't seem that many to me. The years between my youth and today, how could there be that many? Last weekend my dear friend says "Why must you always have that old school scruntchie in your hair?"

Old school? Um...

Looking for sympathy I go to work, relate the story to my co-worker, who says, "Well, the only other person I know who still wears them is my mother. Did you know that Sex in the City did a whole episode on how outdated they are?"

Outdated? ME!?

So on the way home, I think, "surely they must be wrong! I'll ask my daughter."

I pick my sixth grader up from the Boys and Girls club, casually checking out the kids there to see if I spot a scrunchie. Nope... I relate the story to my daughter, she replies with "Well, the only other person I know who wears them is A."

A. Is older than me...

We go to Wal-Mart, now I'm furiously searching for someone else sporting the offending object. Oh, there's one, oh surely she is older than me. Oh there's another, wait she has gray hair!

Yep, I've joined the outdated set. I'll admit, I never did pay much mind to what was in and what was out. I just go to the store, replace whatever it is that's worn out, and move on. Time to retire my beloved scrunchies, guess I'll wear a braid from now on, heard from my students that they aren't outdated, yet!