Changes in a lifetime

We all know things change, but sometimes I don't think we realize how quickly.

When our children were young, we had an RV and through the mid-1980s, we took several 3-week long vacations. We wouldn't trade for them, and I hope the boys wouldn't either. But 'you play, you pay' and catching up afterwards was a chore.

I was reminded of this this week when our younger son had returned from a one week trip to Alaska. He was enthralled and they had had a fantastic time, but the catching up with his work was near-overwhelming. He had taken a cell phone, laptop, and iPad on this trip. While he wasn't always within range to communicate with the rest of us and his world, he wasn't totally incommunicado. How had Dad caught up with his work after three weeks? he asked me.

Oh, I answered, before cell phones? Before laptops? Before email and the internet? You mean, son, when in order to call home, we had to find a pay phone and either call collect or punch in numbers from a calling card? Any of this ring a bell?

On second thought, how did we catch up? Very slowly. No wonder I've put the catching-up out of my mind and just remembered the trips.