I sometimes think about people from the past and wonder how they would react to the way the world is today. How would an 1800’s farm girl feel about cruising down a busy highway with the top down? What would a Revolutionary War era housewife think about the 200+ television channels she could be watching while folding her laundry?
My paternal grandmother was born in 1908. When we would visit once a month or so during my childhood, she would spend all day in the kitchen making a three course Italian feast. Being a picky child, I would have been happy just to have a bowl of spaghetti. I had no use for antipasto or chicken on the bone. Still, I remember all of the preparation that went into those Sunday dinners, and I remember the cleanup that happened afterwards. And some days, when I am getting supper ready for my own family, I think about Grandma and wonder, what would she think?
She died in 1991, before I had my own family, before internet radio and digital cameras became important parts of my vocabulary. Before I became brave enough to try more unusual foods. What would Grandma think as I whip through supper prep (defrost last week’s Murgh Tikka Masala sauce, microwave some couscous, heat up a few loaves of pre-packaged naan) all while being entertained by a Prairie Home Companion podcast and snapping pictures for my blog? Would she find it too foreign to really comprehend? Would she think I was trying to do too much at once? Or would she be completely amused, and think, “wow, what fun it would have been in my day to have had a microwave oven and a laptop that could stream Pavarotti!”
I choose to think the latter. Because I also like to think that the as yet undiscovered wonders that will be commonplace in my granddaughter’s kitchen someday will amuse me.
I like to think my grandmother would enjoy all the ease but would also shake her head at what we do otherwise – spending so much time on the computer, watching tv, etc. And if you think about the changes in our lives in the last 10 years of technology, I can’t even fathom what our grandkids will think is normal. It’ll be cool to see!
See what Michele has been blogging about: A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber
My sister-in-law’s grandfather wouldn’t let her grandmother get a microwave. Right after her grandfather’s funeral when everyone was back at my sister-in-law’s house her grandmother pointed to the microwave and said,”I want one of those.” So they went shopping.
my grandmother spent a year with us in the U.S. when i was seven, and i still remember so much of what she taught me; she was the best. however, i’m pretty sure if she had stayed with us through my teens i’d never have been allowed to go out past 8, would have easily been able to cook fancy indian meals for 40 people and probably have been married by the time i was 20.
she was old-school. but still the best.
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