Grandparents are obsolete ?

Just random pics today, barely worth a pity click.

Close-up of a nameless flower. I was told it was a Clematis. But that sounded too much like the name of a South Georgia redneck, who I happen be familiar with having lived in South Georgia, so I didn't believe it.

Well, the grandkids started school today, and the house sure is quiet. Too quiet, actually. I like to hear them playing and laughing; it's the sound of life, the sound of a new generation that, all too soon, will be taking over from us old-timers.

A hundred years ago, we old geezers had it easy when it came to our last remaining responsibility in life, which was teaching the young how to do the things they needed to survive. The proper way to saddle a horse. How to hitch up a stagecoach  without getting stepped on. And how, and what, to hunt.

But it's not so easy for us antique citizens now. Technology has made us obsolete, and that technology changes so rapidly that before we've figured out how to use the last high-tech gadget, a new one is upon us. So now the young are teaching the grandparents how to use a phone, Virtual Reality goggles, or buy an airline ticket. We've become archaic, antiquated; and our "use by date" has expired.

So It appears we can no longer teach the grandkids useful things about how to live their lives anymore because we have no idea what it will take to live the kind of life they may be facing. We can barely keep up with the rapidly changing technology that's happening all around us, much less imagine what's coming in the future.

So what do we do? What is our purpose when most of the life skills we've learned serve little or no purpose to the grandkids? Back in the old days, the grandkids were going to do what their parents did, and the parents did what their parents did, and so on, and so on.

But I think my parent's generation weakened that chain of events, and my baby boomer generation ended it. So what purpose does a grandparent serve if your life bears almost no resemblance to the life your grandkids face? What is left to teach them?

It looks like the only things that's left are the things that never change. Honesty, values, love of country, do unto others, the value of "your word,"  the cost of freedom. And others. But in a country where good has become bad, and bad has become good, even those few things aren't going to be easy.

I would also suggest, spending as much time as you can with the grandkids. Try not to bore them with stories about the way things used to be, unless they ask. Don't endlessly tell them how tough you had it compared to their life, unless they want to know. And try to keep a conversation with the grandkids more about the present and the future instead of the past, even though the past is what we know the best. And most of all, let them know you love them, and always will.

                                                     Theboondork

My granddaughter playing with Barbie's new boyfriend. Ken doesn't have any superpowers so he's been tossed in life's dumpster.

Part of the elementary school and playground that my grandkids are going to this year.