Wisdom comes with age...

I’m constantly amazed by my relatives. I’m not saying this because it’s a bad thing, but I think that all of us young people have certain expectations about what our older relatives (especially our grandparents) should say or think.

Case in point: my grandfather, who I thought was staunchly conservative, actually told me that it’s a good idea to live with someone before you get married. I almost fell over when he said that because I couldn’t believe that he thought it’d be okay. I mean really – this is a guy who’s more than 80 and he said to me, “You should live together! I tell you, things would have been really different in my time if people did it instead of getting married – it would have certainly made things more interesting.” So I am, and he’s right – not that I’ve learned anything about Foxy that I didn’t already really know, but it’s still nice to know that my grandfather doesn’t think I’m going to burn in eternity for living together out of wedlock… However, upon writing this, maybe he’s only saying that because he wishes he could have gotten some before getting married, which in turn makes me think about him getting some which is just NOT a pretty thought…so I’ll move on.

Second: my grandmother (not married to the afore mentioned grandfather) is so technically savvy, she’d put many people my age to shame. This is a 70 year old who is burning cds, scanning pictures, emailing people, surfing the web and shopping online. It’s so cool to think that my grandma is so hi-tech.

Maybe my older relatives are an anomaly? I guess I’m just lucky to have them and know that, despite what all of us young people think, they’re not living in the past. Either way, I’m glad that I’m living closer to them now that I’m older and can actually appreciate all the stories that used to put me to sleep as a kid…