Change

Change is a funny thing, sometimes it will slap you in the face and at other times it will creep up so slowly you don’t even know it is there. I was talking to a friend the other day that is on a first name basis with 70 years old and he was telling me that the other day he went to move a box with some magazines in it and he couldn’t even lift it. In his prime he could have one handed it and put it on the top shelf without any problem at all. He still thinks of himself as a 30 year old man and is frustrated when he can’t do what he once did.

I guess that we have to be thankful that a lot of what we did in our thirties doesn’t interest us as much as it once did. Some things do, but since they just aren’t feasible any more why worry.

I was listening to a discussion yesterday about how slow the 3G iPhone was when it came to GPS navigation when my son was in Europe. The son-in-law agreed about having to wait while his search for a restaurant took too much time. I don’t have an iPhone, but I know what they are talking about. The other day I had to wait about a minute for the book I have been reading on my phone loaded up. It was hardly worth starting the program. This kind of stuff would be considered magic a hundred years ago and would more than likely get you burned at the stake.

I can remember when if you wanted to make a phone call you would either find a pay phone (they were all over the place), go home or go to the office. You didn’t call or text someone to finalize the details of a meeting, those would have been settled much earlier in person.  If you needed to find someplace in a foreign country you would refer to your paper map or consult the directions that had been given you days earlier. For me a restaurant search was driving down the road and as you drove past the restaurants you would decide if you wanted that kind of food.

Who would have thought even fifteen years ago that I could write my thoughts and within minutes and hours, people in the Ukraine, China, Russia and other exotic (to me) countries would get some enjoyment from them. Well, I hope they are getting some enjoyment. There is one guy in Eastern Europe that keeps sending me ads for Viagra, cheap watches and payday loans. No thanks to all of those. I guess we have to take the bad changes with the good ones.

I got a card for my birthday and the picture on the front is of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. They are just standing side by side. There are actually two pictures, one that was drawn when Charles Schultz first started the strip and a much more recent drawing. The years have been good to Charlie and Snoopy.

I just hope that the years have been as good to me…

Yeah...not so much!