Boy, have I had a busy week! How about you? This was the final week of school for many of us (YEA!). I also celebrated my birthday this week. Okay, maybe celebrate is the wrong word. Let's just say I acknowledged my birthday. My kids celebrated. You know how kids are... any excuse for sugar and they are right there with their party hats on!
These days, birthdays (mine and others') are opportunities to pause and reflect. The thing that hits me is how things have changed. It wasn't all that many years ago that the very concept of a home computer was nonexistent. Today, almost every home has at least one. When I was growing up, a lot of homes had a TV. Today, NOT having a TV is considered rather odd. If fact, most families consider it normal to have a TV in almost every room.
My mother did administrative work, just as I do now. When she learned to type, she learned on a manual typewriter. I learned to type on an electric typewriter. My kids don't even know what it is like to type on a typewriter, electric or otherwise. My mother is finally getting used to typing on a computer and is even doing some surfing on the Internet. My kids don't know what it is like to NOT use a computer or access the Internet. Things have always changed. They just change a lot faster now.
My mother had to drive to her job and bang away (literally) at the keys of the manual typewriter that her boss chose for her. She was required to dress in a certain fashion and deal with the clients that her boss determined for her. She was required to be there at a certain time and stay there for a certain number of hours. If one of us kids was sick... too bad for her because her boss didn't offer family sick time (unheard of back then). Today, I can work at home (in my jammies, if I so choose) using equipment that I choose for myself. I choose my hours. I choose my clients. I choose my wardrobe. If my kids are sick, I don't have to risk losing my job to stay home and care for them. I am able to get my work done AND care for my family all without having to burn even one gallon of (overpriced) gasoline. Yes, things have always changed. And yes, they are certainly changing a lot faster these days. But maybe, just maybe, that isn't such a bad thing after all.
