Talk about the rate of change – how quickly things in the modern world, particularly comunicatiions, have changed from one generation to the next – to thte point it’s hard to understand, never mind try to keep up. Some of the changes are ominous and frightening: superbugs, hackers, financial derivities. While others are wonderful and thrilling: Skype, smart phones, medical devices that save lives.  But in other ways, the world of 2010 is not so dissimilar to the world I grew up in 50 years ago: the same school buses rumble down the road, street lights and street signs direct us the same ways, toll collectors in their booths, Noxema and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo in the grocery aisle. 

 It’s in some of the small details that our lifestyle changes are most significant, and amusing – the things that would have raised my grandmothers’ eyebrows:

 - cars in the driveway, since garages are so much and we have so much stuff

- FedEx and UPS trucks on every little side road, delivering our important packages

 - flip-flops and slip-on shoes, since no one has time to tie their shoes anymore

 - white teeth – because it’s a relatively cheap, inexpensive and painless change that we can make in the never ending battle to counter aging

 - cell phone ring tones -  and prompts to turn the cell phones off during plays, lectures, and religious services

 - Fruits individually labeled for scanning purposes - and reusable grocery bags

 - Coffee mugs and water bottles: to keep caffeinated and hydrated, but strangely resembling baby bottles, and perhaps offering the same kind of oral satisfaction

 -Email blunders – the oops moments that we all have when a message has been blasted off into the electronic world without a chance to rethink.  This may also include breaking up by text or email.

- Big, inflatable balloon holiday decorations on the lawn – snowglobes toFrankenstein monsters. But Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas.

 Teen boys sitting alone in their rooms playing video games over the computer, and talking on a headset to all their friends

 Middle-aged, suburban women flipping the bird and/or “Kickass Cupcakes” – the name of a bakery

 Words everywhere: tee shirts, bumper stickers, lawn signs: when did we become walking billboards?

And more, many more: it's kind of fun to see all the changes, and sometimes kind of sobering.