Well, now I’m very behind on writing my blogs! I got back from my trip last week and am still feeling some impact from jet lag. And now we switch to Daylight Savings Time!  Oh well, it is all good. The trip was fantastic, and I’ll do a couple special blogs about the trip separate from these.

Week four’s topic is “Witness to History”. I have thought for a long time that I am fortunate to live in these times. My grandparents w ere all born between 1902 and 1911. This is before WW1, WW11, and the Spanish flu epidemic, and the Great Depression.

The first plane was invented in 1903. Three out of four grandparents never flew on a plane, but they all lived to see how the planes changed travel and commerce.

My paternal great-grandmother died of the Spanish flu 23 October 1918, six months after giving birth to my great-aunt Cordelia. My grandfather was about five years old. His life was impacted much in the same way mine was by losing a mother at an early age. I am grateful for medical breakthroughs that help us live longer and healthier.

My maternal grandparents lived frugally. We grew food, had a wood stove to heat, drove old cars, baked bread and other foods. I know they were impacted by the Great Depression and Second World War. I remember balls of string, baking bread, canning food, keeping squares of cloth, mending things. They were not wasteful people. I can only imagine what they would say today with so many options in clothing, food, and entertainment to name a few. Malls were just being built around the time they passed away.

It’s amazing to think back on all that happened in their lifetimes, and now during mine. I look forward to the future!