“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” William Faulkner
Travels With Maggie
A misty morning in Zion National Park also let my imagination roam free. -- Photo by Pat Bean
When I stepped outside with Maggie this morning, the landscape was heavy with wet, gray fog. It felt like I had stepped back in time to the Land of the Lost. My imagination could even picture a dinosaur emerging from between the two large, moss-laden live oak trees that sit in the park across from where my RV is parked. The fog was that thick.
I was glad it was just my imagination that took me back in time because I am most grateful for the age in which I was born.
I first thought about this when I heard the story of my mother almost dying from diphtheria, a disease that took many children before the 20th century was out of its teens. If not diphtheria, then it was polio, measles or even mumps, all diseases for which there are now vaccines. It was a rare family back then that didn’t lose at least one child.
The thought of that, after I had my own children, was just too horrible to think about.
As the years went by, the miracle of vaccines was joined by the miracle of automatic washing machines to replace the scrub boards and wringer washers which I saw my grandmother and mother use every Monday.
Other time-saving devices freed women even more, well until they joined the work force and found themselves, at least the women of my generation, both bringing home the bacon and continuing as full-time homemakers without help.
Lake's End Park, Morgan, Louisiana: The landscape and cormorants here have a Lost World look about them. Don't you agree? -- Photo by Pat Bean
Thankfully, my granddaughters won’t put up with male partners who don’t change diapers or wash at least a dish or two.
The past 10 years, meanwhile, have brought another modern miracle. The Internet.
While I lived my life mostly without it, I can’t imagine going back to such a time. I love being connected to the world, being able to find an answer to a question within minutes and the new friends it’s brought me.
I try, each day, to find something to be thankful for in my life. Today, I’m grateful it was only my imagination that took me back to a time before labor-saving devices, vaccines and of course Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and plentiful books to enrich my life.
What do you value most that your ancestors didn’t enjoy?
Bean’s Pat: Portrait of Wildflowers: Seasonal Leaf Color http://tinyurl.com/82gq8np Everything you ever wanted to know about wildflowers. This is a great blog for someone like me who wants to know the name of everything in nature.
Antibiotics. Without them, I – and many of us – would have long been dead. Yes, it’s good to be grateful everyday!
Hardily agreed Len. I would probably have lost my second child without them.
Freedom.
Yes. What a great thing to be grateful for having Totsy. I’m glad I live in America where a lone woman can travel all across the country and feel safe.
You are so right. We do have so much to be thankful for!
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
Electricity and air conditioning would be at the top of my list along with compact discs.
Probably a private bath with hot running water. I’ve lived long enough and traveled far and wide – and that amenity is always appreciated. Such a luxury! Pat, I’m quite sure you can relate to that, but I think most Americans take their daily shower very much for granted.
I’ve often joked that the only thing I miss since I moved into my RV and took off down the road is a hot bath. It’s no joke. Showers just don’t cut it. I mean who can read in a shower. One of dreams these days, for when I put down roots, is to have one of those big old clawfoot tubs. And since I’m dreaming, I would put it next to a big window that looks out on a private wild garden. Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com
You have a great imagination – pictures do looks like dinos should be lurking – not everyone would notice…thankful for that!
Thanks Karen. I’m glad your imagination saw what my imagination imagined. Hee Hee.
Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com
I am grateful for so many modern “miracles,” and especially grateful that we have all the labor saving devices that we do. Women in my great grandmother’s time were either tough or died young, literally worked to death by hauling water, washing clothes and having babies. We have a lot to be thankful for!
I am thankful to have found your blog. Not only do I enjoy your words and photos, you have led me to a number of other blogs (like portraitsofwildflowers) that also bring beauty to my life. Thank you, Pat.