Grandpa's Camera

Dear Diary,

Without my computer over the weekend it got me thinking about my pre-technology age...when things were much simpler.  You want to make a phone call?  You had to look for a pay phone, pretty much extinct now.  Talk to someone far away?  Write a letter and wait for a response and that could be weeks.  Take a picture?  Bring the film to the drugstore and wait for it to come back.  We spent more time waiting it seems.

We don't like to wait now for anything.  Everything happens at the speed of light.  We expect it.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I have no desire to return to the "good old days" in most ways.  But there are times when the quiet and peace of not always being in constant contact is very tempting.  There is something wonderful about the handwritten letter that an email can never possess. 

I keep Grandpa's old camera out on a shelf so I can see it and remember.  Not only the man but the time when a little granddaughter would eagerly seek the sweet treats he would keep in his jacket pocket and we would sit and talk about his good old days.  Someday, these times will be the good old days! 

Close to the time my grandmother died, at 98, she told me, "I went to school in a horse and buggy and I've lived to see a man walk on the moon.  I think I've seen enough."   I can understand that sentiment now.