Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom is 90 years old today!!! She has had an incredible life, one which has included being raised during the Great Depression, had three “adorable, successful, beautiful” children, married the love of her life in 1937 and unfortunately buried two husbands.

Being raised during the depression era Mom was definitely not wasteful, in fact she learned to be, let’s say “thrifty”. One of her many old sayings (and if you know her, you know there are many of saying) goes,“you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip”. She can stretch a dollar.

Mother was much more careful with a food budget than I ever have been; she freezes everything from potato chips to cash. And as it turned out, her good sense resulted in more money in the bank. Being a child of the depression, she knew how to scrimp with such things as re-using aluminum foil, plastic cutlery, plastic bag and saving “nice” bags she gets from places. Our favorite though has to be always keeping a ziplock bag handy in her purse or pocket so you have it handy if you come across and “all you can eat” event, because everyone knows you can “crisp it back up in the little toaster oven”.

Does your mind grasp being 90 years old? It is so hard to believe that so many things we take for granted were not even in existence when she was born. Can you visualize, even a small percentage, some of the advances that have occurred in the fields of technology and medicine that have occurred in 90 years? Her life has been a history lesson.

Let’s think back,,,, In 1920 Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States, the population of the US was only about 106 million, the average annual salary was $1234/year and the cost of a first-class stamp was 2 cents and Prohibition began (thank goodness that didn’t last)!!!

There have been 17 different Presidents in 90 years, can you name them?
Automobiles had recently been invented and horses and mules were still the common method of farming.

A lot of things that we now take for granted which have all come into being during her lifetime:

· Penicillin was discovered
· Television was created- originally only in black & white
· Nuclear Bomb not only was created but the power was harnessed to provide energy- most homes did not have electricity or indoor plumbing in 1920
· Microwave Oven- most homes heated and cooked with wood or coal in 1920
· The “Pill” (which was the first drug used by “healthy” people to prevent something rather than by the sick to treat an ailment)
· Commercial Air Travel- distant travel was by trains powered by steam locomotives in 1920.
· Space Travel- the first rocket was launched in 1926 by Robert Goddard
The Barcode, do you remember ever purchasing an item without one?
· Social Networking, think about this next time you read a blog or “Friend” someone on Facebook
· GPS- map and compass was used in the 1920’s
· Laptop Computers- electronic calculators didn’t become commercially available until the 1970’s
· Text Messaging

It’s also hard to believe that all of the following have occured in just 90 short years :
· Astronomers discover Pluto
· The Empire State Building is completed
· The Golden Gate Bridge is completed
· World War II begins
· The first Social Security benefit checks are paid out
· DNA was isolated
· Man Travels to the Moon
· Jonas E. Salk developed the first experimentally safe dead-virus polio vaccine
· Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states

Mom, what an amazing life you’ve had. You’ve been dealt a difficult hand in this game of life, but in our opinion,, you played it well!

We love you