Three Years

Three years ago my father was lying in his Hospice bed waiting for peace to finally be with him.  His entire family rallied around him hoping that his transition would be peaceful and that any pain he was experiencing would be final.  Peace was with him as he took his final breath with me and my sister-in-law witnessing.  

It was a relief to know that Daddy wasn't suffering any longer but so sad that we would never get to see him again, feel his hugs and kisses, and know how much he loved us.  No one loved his family more than my father.  We were the most important thing in his life, I figured out after he died, that nothing would stand in his way to make sure we were always present.  He would speak with family at least once a week, and this includes his brother and sister-in-law who he loved very much.  

I think about him and Mama every day.  I'm so much like my mother I can't help but think about her.  I talk like her, laugh like her, have mannerisms like her, that sometimes it scares me.  And Daddy, when I smile with my mouth closed I'm like him, my gentleness around animals and enjoying being around others I'm like him.  Of course, I strive to be a better person every day but I have some good role models to help guide me.  

As tomorrow approaches, the third anniversary of his death, I pause and think about my father and how much we loved him and how much others loved him.  We all are better people to have known him.  God bless you, Daddy.

Change

Okay, this really isn't about life changes but something I was thinking about.  Well, it could be considered life changing but for everyone, not just one person.

Sometimes my brain goes weird (hush to those who are saying it's weird all the time) and I start to think about off-the-wall things.  This morning was one such time and I was thinking about how much phones have changed since my parents were born.

Phones were invented not too long before my parents were born, about 50 years, so they were ever changing as they still are today.  Alexander Graham Bell patented his phone back in the 1870s and it's been a rush of technological change ever since.  Thanks, Mr. Bell!

Back in 19..well, let's start even further back in time to when my grandfather, Sam Mendelson, was born.  In 1886, this phone was in use and even used by Mr. Bell himself.  This type of phone used a platinum diaphragm for better long distance transmission.  So I'm guessing that you talk and listen in the same piece.  Wow!

When my mother and father were born, in 1925, phones became much more modernized.  Look how there is now an earpiece and a mouthpiece so you can talk and listen at the same time.  Also, notice that you have a dialer so you don't necessarily have to go through the operator.  Another wow!

Now comes the time when I was born in 1960.  Technology exploded and look how nice phones became.  They looked sleek and the cord connecting the phone to the receiver was thicker and looked much nicer than the phones from the '20s.  The dialer was made of plastic and it looks much more comfortable to dial with than older phones.  

So time moved on and phone technology progressed beyond imagination and soon the dialer became push-buttoned.  How many of my friends remember when those came out?  Do you remember your first push-button phone?  I think everyone had a princess phone and some of you may still have one today.  Actually, I always loved them and wouldn't mind owning another one.  I think it's the princess in me that wants it.  

Now we come to the 1980s, the decade my niece was born.  Now we have cordless phones, those phones which don't have a cord but a base to charge the battery.  Well, wow!!  I remember our first few of these phones and they were heavy and clunky but oh-so-cool.  We could now walk around the house or even outside (not too far or we'd lose connection) and talk to our friends or family.  Who would have thunk, huh?

Phones really haven't changed too much since then, just improved.  I have a phone like the above in my house as do most of you.  Oh well, maybe you don't if you don't have a landline.  Landline---a new word of the late 20th century-early 21st century which was created when cellphones started to burst into being.  Yes, I have a landline because my cellphone reception is not the best in my neck of Leon County, Florida.  

Cellphones, I remember when I got my first one back in 2001.  I thought it was cool to have one even though I really didn't need it.  How wrong I was because now, 12 years later, I wouldn't know what to do without it.  The phone does almost everything a computer does so it's handy while you're waiting at the doctor's office or waiting for your order at your favorite restaurant.  It's a multi-use item that will never, ever go away.

And with all this let's thank Alexander Graham Bell for inventing the first telephone and to all those men and women who spent tireless hours so we will always have a means of communication.  You all rock!!