2 November 2023
Someone pointed out yesterday I had now lived 3/4 of a century – not sure which sounds worse – that or 75? I used to think back on what my Dad saw in his lifetime. He was born in 1913. For example, he was 10 years old when the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, NC. [I claim chem brain. The Wright Brothers flew in 1903. Dad hadn’t been born yet. I saw a difference of ten years and went the other way. I noticed this is my 666th post. Perhaps the devil made me do it. Thanks to Jim for catching the error.] He saw the development of television, the discovery of penicillin, fought in both WWII and Korea, and saw the first moon landing. He was even around for the beginnings of the computer age.
When I was born in 1948, it was, at that time, considered the last of the baby boom era. They’ve since extended the time span for baby boomers, but I stick with the original 1948. According to The People History Home, in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, Israel declared an independent state and the U.S. was the first to recognize the state, the British National Health Service went into effect, North Korea became a state, and the Berlin airlift commenced.
The average cost of a home in the U.S. was $7,700 (my mortgage in 1985 for this house was $79,000) the average annual wage of $2,950, a gallon of gas cost $0.16, and a loaf of bread cost $0.14.
Today the average home price is $348,539, the average wage is $59,428 (when I retired inn 2014, my salary was $77, 645) the average price of regular gasoline (that’s all there was in 1948) is $3.46, and the average cost of bread is $2.50 (and the loaves are much smaller).
When I started teaching at Itawamba Junior College in Fulton, Mississippi, the average teacher’s salary in the 1979-1980 fiscal year was $11,850. When I moved to Broward College in 1985, I got a $5000 raise from Mississippi.
I lived with the Vietnam conflict hanging over my head (not a declared war) from the Eisenhower years (1948-1956) to the Nixon years (1969-1974). Dear to my heart as a biologist, I was around for the discovery of DNA, cloning and genetic engineering. I got in on the semi-ground floor to computers. I didn’t do programming of computer punch cards but I was actively programming stuff for my biology classes using BASIC and the TRS-80 by Radio Shack. Later, something called the internet became important. Then cell phones.
I’m sure each generation has milestones. One that was significant to me was the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. I remember exactly where I was when it was announced (study hall at Morton High School) and stunned with the majority of the students stood up and cheered. After school was dismissed, I was glued to my grandparents black and white TV and I swear I was home on the day Lee Harvey Oswald was assassinated by Jack Ruby on live TV and saw it as it occurred – not the re-run.
While I was a counselor at Camp Kickapoo, Boy Scout Camp near Clinton, Mississippi, I saw the moon landing on July 20, 1969 on TV. It was a Sunday and a new bunch of campers were coming in. We were meeting with the Scoutmasters about their coming week and we stopped the proceedings and viewed the landing and “first step” comment together. It was a joyous moment for staff and Scoutmasters.
On December 1, 1969, I was in my dorm room at Ole Miss when Lyndon Johnson drew the first number for the Vietnam conflict draft. At the end of the night, I knew I was number 19 on the national list and later found out I was number 7 in the county (Scott County, Mississippi) and the county was drafting the first 9. I had one year of student deferment left, but knew I would be called up. Indeed, in 1970, after undergraduate graduation at Ole Miss, I was sent for the dreaded draft physical in Jackson and later ended up with four years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard.
I also remember exactly where I was on September 11th. I was swimming laps in the pool before time to get ready for class and I had the radio playing over the outdoor speakers. In between laps, I heard the first information about a plane crashing into one of the twin towers in New York. I got out of the pool and turned on the TV and I saw the second plane hit on live TV.
Life is strung together by these moments. They unify one generation with another. It also speaks to our own mortality as one generation passes into the next. At 75, there is no way to predict how long I have left on the planet. The cancer diagnosis was certainly a set back but I’ll hope for the ten year life span (and more) that all cancers are judged by.
As you can probably deduce, I’m in a philosophical mood today. I had a good night (even though I still have night sweats – at least I put down a towel now so I don’t soak the fitted sheet). My friend Daryl recommended Pedialyte for hydration and it seems to be helping more than GatorAde and coconut water. She’s right, it’s very sweet – as in Southern iced tea sweet. I’ll choke it down as long as it helps.
When I got out of bed this morning I felt better than in quite a while. Hopefully, this means some of the effects of Taxol are wearing off. I no longer have to blow my nose to free blood clots like I did. I wasn’t as dizzy this morning when I got out of bed and I feel I have more energy than all of last week.
I’m going to take each day as it comes, hope for the best with the numbness, and continue the Herceptin treatments and hydration treatments. Wonder what’s gonna happen in the next 10 years?
Stay tuned!
