Getting Older

Is anyone still reading my blog? I hope so! I'm sure that I should be posting about our recent transition from Africa to America, but I have several excuses for continuing to procrastinate. (And oh! How I miss the Sew & Tell group!) In the meantime, I keep getting ideas for other, non-travel-related posts, but I end up not writing about them, since I feel guilty for neglecting the topic of our move. In the end, I do nothing; so today, I'm going with my inspiration.

Today, I'm faced with the reality that I'm getting older. It's really OK with me. I don't think too much about my age. I'm actually rather young; but, by God's goodness, I've crammed a whole lot of life into these (just under) four decades. Very often, people mistake me for one of our daughters' sisters, which cracks me up. After all, I was there for every birth, so I know that I'm the mom. Still, with the way things change all the time, I'm starting to feel older than I actually am.

In my childhood, I actually held an 8-track in my hand. My Aunt Suzie used to take me to buy penny candy. I can recall seeing the space shuttle disaster, carrying the school teacher, Christa McCauliffe, although I'm not sure why I was at home watching it on TV rather than in school. I can remember the very first CD I ever saw. I can recall my mother's face when my brother first played a rap song for her. When Craig and I got married and moved away, we were amazed to return two years later and learn about a handy little tool called email. Our children find it odd that we never had cell phones in our youth. So, in their eyes, we're pretty old.

These days, I still measure my age by the improvement of products. When I first nursed my babies, I wore a nursing cover that was basically a receiving blanket with a velcro strap. Now, I make the fancy "foo-foo" kind with D-rings, a pocket for the nursing pad, and other unique details, depending on the fabric and my mood. Maternity clothes were quite un-hip when I was still bearing children, too. (Or maybe I was too poor to shop in the cute mommy boutiques in those days.) I've been a mother long enough now to see my daughters shop for the same kinds of fashion that I wore in the 1980s. (That's really rather cruel.)

With the advent of blogging, there's plenty of practical advice at everyone's fingertips for organizing a home, feeding a baby, eating healthful food, disciplining children, and every other aspect of stay-at-home life. When our children were small, I had to order books on these subjects or ask one of the (very few) experienced women in my life for advice.

It has been 366 days since we landed in Maputo, Moçambique, and 11 days since arriving back in Pittsburgh. Lots of things have changed in that time, including our perspective on some things. One small improvement that we've noticed is that we no longer lose our XM radio signal traveling through the Fort Pitt tunnel on our way into the city. Another insignificant change is in the Williams-Sonoma catalog. A new copy arrived in the mail at my parents' house -- where we're staying until we find a house -- and it was a bit disappointing. Perhaps it's because the layout just isn't as good as it used to be, or perhaps it's because I'm not as thrilled with those things as I was before spending a year in a developing country... Naaaaaahhh!

A few years ago, after about 14 years of marriage, I was finally able to buy the food processor of my choice. When I used it once or twice, I marveled at how I had been able to manage without it for so long! We use it nearly every day. I'm so thankful for this machine, as I am all of my fun kitchen gadgets. I was a bit shaken, though, when I spied the latest version of it in the catalog. I bought this a few years ago...

But the catalog now offers this...

The same is true of my Bosch Universal Mixer. I sold my Kitchen Aid in order to get this about ten years ago, and many loaves of fresh, whole wheat bread have been produced as a result...

The next generation of whole grain users will have this lovely model to enjoy...

Even my lovely (red!) Vita-Mix now comes in a gorgeous brushed stainless steel option that wasn't available two years ago when I made my purchase. Am I bitter? Of course not! I should hope that by the time my daughters' husbands buy these very useful gadgets for them, they'll have something that doesn't look like it came out before the iPod.