Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Great-grandmother

My great-grand mother, Annie St. Croix, died in her sleep last night. She was over 100 years old, 103, I think it was. I didn't know her at all, but it feels kind of like the end of an era.

It's amazing to me to think of all the things that changed in her lifetime. She was born in the early 1900's, when Newfoundland wasn't even part of Canada yet! They were disputing the ownership of Alaska, the "wireless" was becoming the next big thing, coke was actually made with cocaine, the average salary was $300 USD per year, only the wealthy had phones and cars, "Yankee Doodle" was a hit song, and the Wright brothers were still working on the airplane. I wonder what she thought of how things have changed, and will things change that much in my lifetime?

They've already changed quite a bit - when I was born, people didn't have home computers, phones still had rotary dials, and families usually only had one car. Cold war missiles were still a threat, cell phones didn't exist, the Internet hadn't been invented, cassette tapes were new technology, Canadian families still got a "baby bonus", and there wasn't any GST!

I wonder what changes the next 75 years will bring? Flying cars, a molecular transporter, family vacations on the moon, microchips in your hand with all your info on them, a cure for cancer...?

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