Well, today is my 90th. What happened to the time?
tl:dr Happy Birthday to me.
I was thinking about what significant developments I have seen. The power of smartphones pales in comparison to some.
Indoor plumbing, yes there were still outhouses back in the day.
I recall WWII, especially the end. Gold stars in the windows. Never be another generation like that.
My father participated in a program named something like bundles for Britain. He made a lifelong snail mail (priceless) friend.
Vaccines (sorry anti-vaxers). My best friend through high school died of Polio.
Medicine: Antibiotics, cancer treatments (my mother died of leukemia, the treatment back then was "eat a lot of red meat"), today's surgery techniques (Wow). Much more. Now AI?
Our first television, 1948, black and white, largest screen available: 10". Weighed a ton. Watched the world series.
Power steering, power brakes and automatic transmissions.
EV's? Won't go there.
My first "computer experience", actually an accounting system, 7 words of core memory, vacuum tubes (valves for you right ponders) could only add, subtract and multiply. People ran payroll on it. Slow? you bet.
My first experience with a computer monitoring open heart surgery patients. 1970.
etc, etc, etc.
Just a Thought:
A Keeper
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused.
Their best friends lived barely a wave away.
I can see them now,
Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress,
lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other.
It was the time for fixing things.
A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress.
Things we keep.
It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy.
All that re-fixing, eating, renewing,
I wanted just once to be wasteful.
Waste meant affluence.
Throwing things away meant you knew there would always be more.
But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night,
in the warmth of the hospital room,
I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.
Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...
never to return.
So... While we have it... it's best we love it...
And care for it.... And fix it when it's broken.....
And heal it when it's sick.
This is true...
For marriage....
And old cars....
And children with bad report cards.....
Dogs and cats with bad hips....
And aging parents....
And grandparents.
We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep.
Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.
There are just some things that make life important,
like people we know who are special....
And so, we keep them close!
I received this from someone who thinks I am a 'keeper',
so I've sent it to the people I think of in the same way...
Good friends are like stars....
You don't always see them, but you know they are always there
People are made to be Loved
and Things are made to be Used
There is so much confusion in this World because
People are being Used
and
Things are being Loved.
Be kind... everyone you meet is fighting a terrible battle.
Thanks for being part of MY life!
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.