My wife was tidying up old papers, and found this letter. My daughter had written it to her grandparents to thank them for some Christmas presents (and also to share the family excitement, that her older brother had gotten a ball python). Grandma had put the date on it, and we got it back after they died.
Written when my daughter was about the same age as my granddaughter is now, 26 years ago. Jebus, but time flies by, and leaves me all old and sentimental. I may need to mope for a bit.
Yup, PZ. I feel ya!
It gets worse. Someday, you will get into the passenger seat of a car and look over to see your grandchild in the driver’s seat.
That’s a jolt to the system, let me tell you.
So far, I have two grandkids who can drive, and since one daughter just married a man with three teenagers, there are now two more grandkids who drive. I am really feeling ancient.
My children are nearing 40 and the grandkids are swiftly approaching their tweens..
Given that I was the driving instructor for our children, I can guess who’s going to teach the grandkids. I don’t give gimmes when it comes to things that can cause serious injury.
Ah, just wait until your kids are grandparents …
nomdeplume,
Since my oldest grandson is 23, and the oldest “bonus” granddaughter is now 20, two of my daughters could easily be grandparents very soon. That would make me GG (Great-Grandma).
Somehow, I don’t feel ready for that!
I remember getting a job in a high school media lab. One day I realized that all the kids my age were teachers.
@4 No one is ever ready for that…
Dear PZ, thank you for sharing this sweet poignant interlude. It allowed me to take a moment to breathe deeply again and glimpse a more decent, caring vignette. It means a lot to all those of us caught up in the hectic insanity of today’s violent world.
(though it is early) We wish you and your loved ones a peaceful, healthy winter solstice. May the always green, living and sheltering outstretched branches of the tannenbäume instill an abiding tranquility in your thoughts.
Summer solstice here, shermanj.
Still, I echo your sentiment: I too wish PZ and his loved ones a peaceful, healthy summer solstice.
(A.K.A. Xmas)
I didn’t make the mistake of ever reproducing (haha) so its harder to date myself — but because my family reproduces rather slowly, I have a couple of grandparents (and a great grandmother) who I knew quite well, born in the 1800’s, which regularly weirds me out when I think about how fucking long some people live these days.
My paternal grandmother was born 1889. It feels weird to think about it.
.
Hugs, if you want them.
Bowhead whales can live 2 centuries. If we were to “uplift” them and make them sapient, that would lead to weird cross-generational interactions.
“So, you are the Myers kid. I knew your grandfather’s grandfather in college “.
In my circles a common joke is, “You know you’re getting old when all the doctors start looking like kids.”
And it’s true. One doctor I dealt with, at first I just stared at her in amazement. She didn’t look old enough to be out of high school. But she knew her stuff, she certainly did.
It increasingly staggers me juts how quickly time seems to rocket by and vanish. Still find it hard to believe we’re really in the year 2022 – nearly 2023 – sometimes.
@11 birgerjohansson
My paternal grandmother was also born in 1889. As a baby she rode in a covered wagon when her family moved from Nebraska to South Dakota. Her father was a Union soldier in the Civil War. She lived to see moon landings and space shuttle flights. Time does fly. What will my granddaughters live to experience?
I still have a letter similar in writing to my dad written when I was with my mom visiting relatives. Kinda neat.
I have no kids, but my friend’s son had a baby not long ago. That makes me feel old as he was a baby himself in the early 90s. That wasn’t very long ago was it?
A book I finished recently talked briefly of an art theme for paintings with skulls and hourglasses. How cruel!
nomdeplume and magistramarla
I kind of enjoyed calling my younger daughter Granny. She has three grandkids now.
Yeah. I’m with you, PZ. The days seem long and the years seem fast.
Ha! Y’all feel old 🤣 My grandson has a 2 year old daughter. Every time I feel old I listen to that song about the hotrodding granny. Those are goals ! Go granny! Go granny! Go granny, go!
AH! the memorabilia the most priceless of treasures we save, forget all that gold and diamonds the shares and certificates of deposit they are all dross compared too this brief moment of time we have
keeping the sacred memorabilia is joy in the little things, the efemora of existence!
My daughter-in-law is a long-time teacher. Mostly 3ed and 4th grade. (ages 9 and 10) She has been teaching long enough that some of her former students are parents of her current students.