A sign that I'm getting older

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I notice more and more changes around me... A sign that I'm getting older.

My big summer vacations were almost always spent in a village in the interior of the country, near the Serra da Estrela. It was my grandmother's house. She was one of the main people who brought me up and kept me company, as well as my brother. When we were little, my parents were working and couldn't afford to put us in an ATL, so we ended up spending many summers at our grandmother's house.

It was a granite house that was over 160 years old at the time, almost 40 years ago... It shouldn't be too long before it's bi-centennial. Although the house is on the same site, it is no longer habitable today. Parts of the floorboards have collapsed, as has part of the roof, which has since been replaced. Many years have passed since my grandmother passed away. It was on May 5, 2012. A few months later, it was my father. It was a rather complicated year, I confess.

The memories and teachings of the people who cross our lives remain. It's enough for them to be central to us.

To this day, I still remember some of the words, phrases and expressions my grandmother had, just like Dad, of course. There are things she used to say that technology has come a long way. My grandmother was born in 1917. She had a television and a landline telephone at home. But no more technology. Just a big radio, which still worked with valves, and she said that her husband, my grandfather, listened to the news on British BBC radio, so that he could find out what was going on in Portugal.

At the time of the Estado Novo, despite the fact that elections were taking place, they weren't free. Not everyone of legal age could vote. For example, not all women could exercise their right to vote. It wasn't until much later, after April 1974, more specifically in 1976 (two years before I was born), that women managed to secure this freedom. You can therefore understand that censorship existed at the time, as did the State Police. People couldn't get together to discuss political issues, let alone make comments about the governance of Portugal.

Three years before I was born, her husband, my mother's father, died. What I know about him, my grandmother told me. Using a large album of mostly black and white photographs, and a few in color, which filled the last few pages... I loved looking at them and imagining all those people. What they were thinking, what they were feeling.

My grandmother always said that there were things she couldn't use anymore, like a cell phone, for example, or a CD player. At the time, I thought I wouldn't have that difficulty. But years later... forty years on, I look around and many of the technologies that are now “mastered” by young people are somewhat challenging for me.

I'm sure that, little by little, future times will seem more and more complex to me, and the technologies more and more distant...

Despite everything, I'm not afraid of it. I try to find my corner, my space. Just last week, I enjoyed reading a book quietly in a garden. A paper book... Printed. A rarity these days. I looked around and hardly anyone passed me who wasn't wearing earbuds or looking at their cell phone. It's funny how we do everything we can to connect more with each other, but then we close the windows on those close to us, and on the things we can admire around us.

Do you have thoughts like this too, or am I just getting older by leaps and bounds?

I hope you enjoyed my little daily reflection.

Cheers🍀

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