How Things Have Changed

THE PAST

I grew up with all of these things:

I listened to the radio with my grandparents. Fibber McGee and Molly, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny... all the old radio shows ("The Shadow Knows").


The milkman left bottles of milk on our back porch. The cream rose to the top.


Finally, when I was six years old, we got a T.V. Howdy Doody was a favorite.


We drove a Chevy that looked like this. No seat belts, no air conditioning.


Our phone looked like this. We were on a party line.

As a teenager, I played my records on a turntable like this:


And I loved my little transistor radio. I took it with me everywhere.


I remember my dad using one of these:


THE PRESENT

Now we have all of these things:


We shop for ipods, iphones, and laptops:


We shop for apps and itunes. We consult with geniuses.


We shop in glass houses:




With glass staircases:


When I was a little girl I used to wonder what the future would look like. Well, I think this is it.




THE FUTURE

Now I have three little nieces, ages 12, 10, and 8. I guess they will remember all the things we have now as part of their childhood. I wonder what they will see in their future. I hope I am around to see it.