My grandmother was born a hundred and twenty four years ago yesterday to a world where the light bulb was still a new invention.
A child of the industrial revolution, she unwittingly rode a wave of technology all her life.
From a horse drawn world where steam engines
puffed and clanked, revolutionizing industry and transportation,
to the slow motion moon walk on our black and white TV.
Technology walked along side of her.
She never learned to drive.
She was born the same year barbed wire was invented.
She was born before the gramophone, zippers, and the internal combustion diesel engine.
She was born before teabags, the theory of relativity, and airplanes.
Before cornflakes, cellophane, sonar, automobiles, tanks, Lifesavers, crossword puzzles, radio, stainless steel, fortune cookies and pop up toasters.
She was born before bubble gum and penicillin, before canned beer and the Colt revolver, before ball point pens and computers, before Silly putty, the Slinky, and the atomic bomb.
She was born before jukeboxes, drive in theatres, and the pill; before Superglue, Teflon, and credit cards.
She died around the same time Ethernet, Bic lighters, and gene splicing were invented.
And I wonder if any single life will ever span such an era of change again?
Happy birthday Nanny.
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124 years,
airplanes,
automobiles,
ball point pens,
barbed wire,
Bic lighters,
black and white TV,
bubble gum,
canned beer,
cellophane,
computers,
cornflakes,
credit cards,
crossword puzzles,
drive in theatres,
ethernet,
fortune cookies,
gene splicing,
gramophone,
history,
industrial revolution,
internal combustion diesel engine,
jukeboxes,
Lifesavers,
light bulb,
moon walk,
nanny,
penicillin,
poem,
pop up toasters,
radio,
silly putty,
sonar,
stainless steel,
steam engines,
Superglue,
tanks,
teabags,
technology,
Teflon,
the atomic bomb,
the Colt revolver,
the pill,
the slinky,
the theory of relativity,
zippers
Linda Studley 