Amazing Creativity

           A while back I wrote “iPod in rice” on a piece of paper which I put on a container on the kitchen counter at my son’s house.  My grandson’s iPod had gone through the wash cycle and no longer worked. Someone had told him that putting it in rice would fix the problem, so I buried the device in the white grain. Since his parents were out, I thought it would be wise to put an explanatory note on the container.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect much. I mean, how could a grain as ancient as rice be of any help to such a modern device. But lo and behold, it was. A week later my grandson was proud to call me to tell me that his iPod was again working properly. I find that totally amazing. Don’t you?

The creativity of mankind is as old as time.  Modern gadgets result in modern problems, but somehow we are able to find adequate solutions. Perhaps that was the idea from the start. A “let’s see how long it takes them to figure it out” sort of approach by the Universe. I believe we have all the solutions. The trick is to be able to fit them to the right questions. And that’s what researchers are attempting to do all the time no matter their field of study.

Sometimes answers and discoveries come up totally by accident, whether it’s in the medical field or any other area of endeavor. Perhaps the Universe is the one guiding. 

Makes sense to me. If rice can be used to draw humidity from inside a modern electronic gadget and revive it, surely the same principle can be applied to countless elements in our world. All we need is to nurture our ability to be amazed. At any age.

 

 

 

 

 

A Question of Time

My eleven-year-old grandson was recently expounding on the reasons why, he believes, school days and holidays should be switched. He believes there are too many days when he has to go to school. I can certainly see his point of view. When I was his age, there was no end to the time spent in the classroom.

However, time is an amazing thing. It goes from being painfully slow to racing at the speed of light—or so it seems—in just a few decades. At first it loses its ability to stand still then begins to rush quite dramatically as if pushed by an undisciplined wind. When you’re busy with work and raising a family, there’s never enough time for all you want to do. And when you retire, whether it is a full retirement or you still work part time, you are amazed that there never seems to be enough time to do all the things you want to do, and you wonder how you ever found time to work. But you realize you’re not the only one to see time as an ever changing commodity when you hear your children bemoan the fact that they run out of time.

But seeing time fly by is not all bad. It reminds us that we’d better get busy doing the things we want to do and stop putting them off because as we all know, without warning, time could run out of steam.

The other morning I was leisurely working on shaping my toenails at 8 a.m. when I realized that the demands on my time have changed drastically. When people are going to school or working, 8 a.m. is a time of necessary rushing to catch the bus or the train, or to get in the car to make it on time. When you’re working at home, time priorities are no longer dictated by others. You are the master of your own schedule. Other people no longer impose time restrictions on you unless it is for important appointments like the doctor or the dentist.

The rest of the time you can sleep in when you’ve had trouble falling asleep the night before or when you stayed up to watch an interesting TV program or to work on a hobby. And you can eat when it pleases you, when you’re hungry rather than at the preordained time of a lunch break. Those things I find to be the most welcomed aspects of getting older. Finally, your time is yours, you are the master of your day.

That means that you can indulge in long lunches, you can travel city streets and highways when the traffic is less intense, you can grocery shop on a week-day morning instead of on busy evenings or weekends. And you can shape your toenails at whatever time pleases you. Or, can you?

The fact that your time is your own does not escape your children who feel they can impose on you to sit with the grandkids whenever … a day, or a week. You’re not doing anything important that week are you? they ask. Well, you say, we wanted to take a trip to wherever. You can do that anytime, can’t you? they retort. And since you enjoy spending time with the grandkids, how can you refuse!  And so it goes. Doing your own thing at any time is a road with a few bumps, but who’s complaining.

 

A Question of Age

As they say, age is just a number. Depending on how you define age, of course.

            Children say: He’s old; at least 30. Teens say: My dad’s old; he’s 50. Boomers say: She’s not old; she’s only 65. People in their 90s see those in their 70s as spring chickens. Perspective, Perspective. Perspective.

            Definition of sixty: sixteen with wrinkles. Think about it. The body may be aging but we still feel much younger inside, don’t we?

            The man had the right idea when he said: I’m 63 now, but that's just 17 Celsius.

            Recently, I heard two women chatting as they waited in line next to me at the grocery store. One of them told the other that her granddaughter was about to graduate from college. That prompted the remark: Already? The answer: Yes, but my son is older than me!

             Loved that remark. The woman winked and smiled ear to ear as she said it. Made me think of my answer when I was asked my birth date recently. I answered that I was born on January 1, 2000. That stopped the man in his tracks. He didn’t know how to handle it, didn’t want to call me a liar, so after a moment he continued as if it was surely the right date.

              Did you hear about the man who wanted his wife to drive more carefully? He told her that if she had an accident, her age would be included in the news report.

              One of my sisters has always lied about her age. We siblings all know it and accept it. Outsiders are baffled. One day when asked her age by a cousin my sister simply replied: I really don’t know. I’ve been lying about it for so long that I really don’t know how old I am.

               Not a bad idea if you ask me.

               As the saying goes, age is a quality of mind. If you no longer look ahead then you’re old, but if from life you take the best, no matter how the birthdays fly, you are not old.

               As a wise man I know says, you’re only as old as you think you are, so forget the number and think of yourself as chronologically gifted.

                I try to do just that, but I’m getting much too gifted much too fast!

The Casual Look

I was recently looking at travel photographs an acquaintance took in the 50s and 60s. What was amazing is that the women all wore high heels as they visited classic tourist spots. And some even wore gloves.

            Some of the pictures were taken in Europe where sidewalks and streets are of uneven stones. I can only imagine how difficult and painful it must have been for these women!

            Thank goodness those days are long gone! Today comfort is the key word in travel wear, starting with shoes. Everyone wears comfortable walking or sports shoes. These come in a variety of colors, of course. You see big men wearing big red shoes, children wearing shoes that light up with every step, and women happily making their way in comfortable orange shoes. The color is of no concern; comfort is.

            Comfort, of course, extends to clothing as well. Today, it seems anything goes. Tourists wear anything they feel at ease in whether it is a plain tank top or a bejeweled tee or even a tee adorned with surprisingly insulting words, classic jeans or new jeans with so many tears and rips you’d swear they were gnawed by some wild beast. Casual comfort is the name of the game, and people don’t seem to worry about what others think of their clothing choice. They’re happy to be comfy, and that’s what counts.

            We may not always agree with the choices of others when it comes to casual wear, but no matter our age we are all grateful that the “overdressed” and “overstuffed” look of the past has been replaced by a more relaxed if sometime nonchalant approach to dressing.

            Our corns and less-than-perfect body shapes are very grateful!

             

           

Going with the Flow

A woman I considered my aunt, but who was in fact my father’s cousin, passed away recently at the age of 105. She did not have a disease per se, she simply left peacefully in her sleep. What an ideal way to go!

            I always admired her philosophy. She said that the past should remain in the past and not be rehashed. And the future? It will take care of itself, she’d say. She went with the flow, today’s flow. That’s what was important to her.

When she was in her 80s, she would run errands for “the old people” who had problems getting around. She needed to help others, to be of service, and always had a bright smile. She was not rich by any means, but she had a recipe for a rich happy life: Don’t worry and go with the flow.

            I would stop by to visit with her from time to time. I remember going to see her one day when she was 90. She wasn’t in her apartment and I was told: It’s Wednesday, she’s gone to her exercise class. Sure enough she was ambling down the street of the small town where she lived to make the most of every moment. It can be argued that she was graced with good genes, which she no doubt was, but there was more: she made it a point to enjoy life to the fullest.       

            Not always easy to do, is it?

            But she did inspire me to try by stopping to worry about my children and grandchildren because worrying does nothing to help them, by not wasting time and energy on small stuff like being stuck in traffic, like locking myself out of the house, like spilling food on a white blouse in a restaurant, and countless other irritants.

            As the song says: Don’t worry, be happy. In short, go with the flow.

           

 

Travel today

A family friend who has always travelled a great deal told me recently that she has decided to put that part of her life behind her. Flying is too much of a hassle now, she says. I agree with her that waiting in long lines to check in and then facing even longer lines to go through security can be daunting. We all want to be safe, of course, but we do need patience when flying anywhere these days. Especially when asked to remove our shoes. Young people don’t mind, in fact they find it fun, but older people who are not provided with chairs to put their shoes back on have been heard to mumble rather loudly that they deserve more respect.

            On two recent trips overseas, I had to go through security at a few different airports, and I must say that those charged with our safety take their job very seriously. I doubt that anything dangerous could slip by. I had to throw away a metal nail file because it was seen as a possible danger.

While going through airport security can be time consuming and tedious, it’s a new reality in today’s world. Unlike my friend, I doubt that it will lead me to give up flying anytime soon. All we need to do is allow enough time before flying so as to not be stressed at the security check point. And not be shy about asking the airline to provide assistance if needed.

A couple of a certain age I know always reserve one of those electric transportation carts inside airports so they’re not tired when going through security. Wise planning since airports are getting bigger and bigger all the time it seems. And you’d better not have sore feet when having to walk for nearly a half-hour from one end of an airport to the other to catch a connecting flight.

I’m sure that like me you no doubt yearn for the old days when you could get to the airport twenty minutes before a flight and get on without problems. I did it many times myself, but that’s in the past. Like so many other changes that have occurred over the years, we must now live with the new reality of time-consuming security-conscious flying.

It could be worse. We could still be traveling by horse and buggy!

 

Earth Day

April 22^nd was Earth Day, a time when the human race was urged to examine how it could modify its action faced with the degradation of the planet. Earth Day had a modest beginning in 1970 when U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin invited students to implement projects to sensitize their communities to the needs of the environment. Since then, the warnings from scientists have become more dire as our actions have brought us closer to a point of irreversibility.

But there is reason to be optimistic because we are changing our ways and becoming more engaged in our efforts to heal the earth. I can certainly see that in my grandchildren. Being green is now second nature to them.

However, when you make that comment to older folks, they are proud to point out that they were green before it became a fashionable modern-day virtue. I remember that my grandmother transformed the cotton sacs in which she bought flour to make her bread into sturdy tea towels. My mother who sewed a lot of our clothes kept all the remnants, and when there was enough she would braid them by hand and make beautiful rugs displaying an array of gorgeous colors. Braided rugs are still available of course, but they are now made by machine and to me lack the personal touch I remember so fondly.

In my mother’s day, little was thrown away. Things were reused, recycled. Of course, in those days life was different, many would argue simpler. But in the years of after-war posterity life changed. Like many of you, I remember a time when cars were long and pink and gas was selling for about 25 cents a gallon. So we fell in love with automobiles not thinking about their growing impact on the air we breathe. Fortunately, we are getting back to basics after decades of spending our resources without much thought to how it was affecting the environment, but a lot remains to be done. 

I believe each of us should get involved in “greening” our world beyond the weekly recycling of household trash. We should be involved in our respective communities and pressure decision makers so that economic development does not come before environmental protection. We have to think like Gaylord Nelson did when he initiated Earth Day. Every day should Earth Day.