This article on cnn was interesting, because it talks about a variety of ailments that never existed when my parents and grandparents were growing up.
I can almost hear those sage characters laughing when I read about...
Tablet neck and BlackBerry thumb
Grandma L: (on tablet neck) Hunched over? Sit up straight! (on Blackberry thumb) It has a speakerphone? I need one of those. Who cares about typing? I never wanted to be a secretary anyway!
Grandma L. was a housewife who raised 7 kids and called everyone of them (including my mother) every morning. If she could have had a cell phone, she would have had one.
Earbud-induced hearing loss
Grandpa K: (great-grandpa --GG--actually): GET THOSE F**&^% out of your ears, you moron!
NOTE: GG was a foreman in a brewery back in the day. You had to yell for people to hear you on the production line. Another fun part of his job: wake up drunks who fell asleep. He was known for speaking his mind. Ahem...
Screen-related sleep disorder
Grandpa L: Turn off the lights. They're not free.
Grandpa worked nights, and he was not a big light fan. He was retired by the time I was born, and while I don't remember him much, he spoiled me (and my sister) rotten according to reports.
Stiletto strain
My mother: This is why you carry a big purse (so you can stash a pair of flats).
I have lots of photos of my mother in high heels in her youth.
Offbeat biorhythms
Grandma R: It's not good to eat after 6PM.
Grandma R was a tenacious survivor: married three times (first was a youthful romance gone bad, except for my dad) second was the love of her life (widowed) and third was a complete idiot (divorced after 3 years and infidelity on his part).
She worked as a real estate agent and died when I was a little girl. I read a few of her letters my father had, and I admire all she had to deal with in life. I'm sure my tenacity comes from her German-Anglo-Irish background.
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