Randy and I are taking a break from packing and are visiting some of his family. Yesterday we got to spend some time talking to his grandmother who turned 100 years old this year. Yesterday also happened to be the 28th anniversary of her husband’s death and she was feeling a little melancholy so we tried to cheer her up a bit.
Even though she is a centenarian, Grandma still insists on living alone in her own house. We sat with her in her dining room surrounded by dozens and dozens of family pictures and lovely old furniture.
I’m always amazed at how much has changed in her lifetime, all that she’s experienced. Grandma was in her pre-teens for World War I and young and married during the roaring twenties. She pinched pennies and made ends meet during the Great Depression and lost a brother in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge. She saw women get the right to vote and witnessed the Civil Rights movement.
Grandma has personally seen the great changes in technology. Telephones and electricity entered homes. Cars and airplanes became common modes of transportation. Family entertainment was radio, then television, then color television and now Grandma enjoys the selection of cable t.v.
I snooped around and found stacks and albums of old family pictures, some from the 19th century. It was amazing to look at the faces of family generations back. I wonder what they would think of us.
For years, Grandma’s goal was to live to be 100. Now she says she needs to live to see a democrat in the White House. Well, she’s seen 18 presidents so far, so what’s one more?