You're never too old
Whenever my car is getting repaired, I wander over to a nearby coffee shop to spend a couple hours doing crosswords, reading, etc. - sort of a forced relaxation time.
Today, while I was there, an elderly couple - I'm guessing mid-80s, if not a bit older - ambled in, sort of hunched over. They placed their order and sat at the table behind me.
I couldn't help but overhear their conversation - they were a really sweet couple, talking about the pancakes they had ordered ("they're not very big, but you do get three of them"), gardening, the rain, the newspaper (something about a baseball story), the pancakes again. They made each other laugh, and talked to each other with palpable affection after who knows how many decades of marriage.
Then, after about 15 minutes, the mid-80s-or-older wife said to her mid-80s-or-older husband, "did you read that e-mail from so-and-so?" To which the husband replied that he had indeed checked the e-mail earlier in the morning.
I thought that was so cool.
Posted by
akjuneau on September 23, 2008 11:11 AM | Permalink
Comments
That really is sweet. My grandparents, now in their 70's, are tech-savvy, too. I hope to be up on my modern forms of communication when I hit the golden years. However, since I still have difficulty with texting, I will have a lot to catch up on I think.
Posted by: Zoe | September 23, 2008 11:48 AM
My dad (age 77) uses e-mail every day to talk to his siblings who live in Texas, California and Iowa. When I was growing up, a phone call from an out-of-town relative was a big deal, and happened maybe once or twice a year on birthdays and Christmas. Now they communicate all the time.
The phrase "checked the email" (not MY email, but THE email) got me thinking: I know several (younger) married couples who share an email account. That, to me, is really weird.
Posted by: Barrett | September 23, 2008 12:30 PM
My husband and I share a personal e-mail account (he has a business account at work). He's never online and if he gets an e-mail I just forward it to his work account (where he won't get it for a week because he never check it)or print it for him.
I even get the occasional e-mail from an old girlfriend wanting to catch up. I always pass it on and write back. ;)
I am trying to learn how to text just to keep up with my kids.
Posted by: Beret | September 23, 2008 01:24 PM
My Aunt says 'THE google', not 'google'.... THE GOOGLE. But she's not that old. But its still funny! My late grandmother was the first person I knew who had a home computer, used it for business AND fun and the first person I knew who had the internet. She had an email account before I even did. As soon as these things came out- she was all over 'em!
Posted by: MareBee | September 23, 2008 01:45 PM
My very hip 63-year-old mother in law taught my husband and I how to text. It was a bit humbling as I remember teaching my mother how to double click.
Posted by: Lucie | September 23, 2008 02:28 PM
Saying 'the google' might be weird, but it sounds no stranger than 'had the internet'. :)
Posted by: glv | September 24, 2008 05:24 PM
my husband - who is in his 30's says "the world wide web." Sometimes even says or types out/tells people the "htt://" part. He's a keeper.... He also isn't certain what 'forwarding' means...... I'm certain he's not sure what he is doing when he's emailing in general but he went to college so what do I know?!
Posted by: MareBee | September 24, 2008 10:00 PM
This may be a bit late..but its adorable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxkuYeERt1c
Posted by: Zacaroo | September 29, 2008 11:32 PM