Into the Future

Granny always kept a diary of her daily activities. This entry from 1962--62 years ago today-- started out like any other February day on the farm. It was two degrees below zero and snowed eight inches. Her son, my grandfather, sold some hogs.  Granny and her husband, whom she continued to call "Dad" well after their children were grown, watched a bit of television.

Granny and "Dad" were both born at the close of the 1800s. Her parents had come to the U.S. on a ship from Sweden, and his family had made their way west from New England in a covered wagon. And on this day, Granny and Dad watched a tv broadcast of a man from Ohio ride a rocket into space to orbit the earth.

I wonder what they thought of that. If they thought of how much the world had changed in their lifetimes, or if it felt like time was moving too fast for them. The diary doesn't say.

But it does say that my dad didn't have school that day because of the snowstorm. Instead, he and his Granny made doughnuts.