What Will the World Be Like...

in 100 years?  I know I won't be around to see that, but how about even in just 10 years? When I think about the things we have now that we didn't have just in the time that our own children have been alive it's pretty awe-inspiring.  There are lots of things that have changed over the years...but here's just a few that jump out at me right now:

Computers. We bought our first PC right about the time our first daughter was born...11 years ago.  Before that I did all my college work on one of those little mac cube shaped computers.  Man, that little screen?  I couldn't even think of using anything less than the 17" one I have now!  And now I can even get to the internet on my cell phone...ok...screen IS WAY TOO SMALL...but I can do it just the same!

Calculators. Those became affordable and small, when I was a kid.  The one my husband was required to get for a math class could do just about anything short of driving the car.  I can't even imagine the one we'll have to purchase when the girls go to college.  What are all those darn buttons for anyway?  I got an A in college statistics...but it was all on with paper and pencil...oh yeah, and the brain!

Cars.  My first car was a truck!  Literally.  I loved my cherry red Toyota 4 wheel drive truck.  I could fit my life into it and go anywhere.  Now we overflow a 6 yard dumpster and the garage still doesn't look empty!  Cars are equipped with everything these days.  No stove, but some have built in mini fridges, stereo systems better than the one in my house, tv's and dvd players, seat warmers (that make you feel like you've pee'd your pants), individual temperature zones, and gauges that tell you when to fill tires, change the oil, fill the gas tank, and take a potty break (ok, maybe not the last one, but that would be handy when DD is driving).  Oh, and the new back-up screen, so you can see what is behind you...who needs those stinking side mirrors anymore!?  Some cars are even equipped to talk to you...that would be handy since I talk to my car all the time!  Maybe it's mad at me cuz I'm not always saying nice things.  I'll have to work on that!

Phones.  Now this one is incredible.  We don't have to put our finger in little holes and "dial" the number.  Has that term, "dial", left our phone lingo yet?  The kids saw one at their daycare and didn't know what to do with it. LOL!  Now the other thing that has been going by the wayside are the handsets connected to the phone by one of those curly cords.  We had one temporarily in our kitchen once and one of the girls tried to go too far with it...forgetting that it was attached...and pulled it out of the wall. Oops!  Now we have nothing but the cordless handsets (thank heaven for the seeker button or I'd never remember where I'd put it!)  Maybe dial has left our vocabulary, but it's been replaced with many other words:  hands-free, blue tooth, call forward, call waiting, voice message, I-phone, texting, cell phone...and others that only my kids know.

The girls don't think anything of it. They just absorb and accept.  That's great and adaptive of them...but sometimes I worry that the simpler things in life will be overlooked because it doesn't talk to you, ring, or somehow send you a message.  Guess that's where us old parents have to step up!

But when I don't know how to change a setting on the phone...it sure is handy to be able to hand it to CC and have her do it for me!