We spent almost two weeks sleeping in the trailer this month without ever leaving our driveway! While our kids and grandkids were home, it served as an extra bedroom and regardless of how often babies woke during the night, we slept soundly! Melaina and her little family had the guest room while Matt, Robin and Sam used our room. On the weekends, Nathan joined us and slept in his old room in the basement.

What a wonderful two weeks it was! Hours spent playing with two year old Drew and nine month old Sam as well as cuddling with seven week old Jami-Lee. Sunlit days spent walking to the playground, lounging in the backyard, splashing in the kiddie pool and golfing with Matt. Evenings spent playing Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan.

Since the last of the clan packed up and headed for home the day before yesterday, the house has been very quiet but we’ve been busy getting the trailer packed and ready to serve as our home away from home for the next month or so. We leave Wednesday morning on a trip through the central States. Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and wherever else takes our fancy. I love blogging about our travels and hope you’ll follow along!

I grew up as part of the print generation. Dictionaries, encyclopedias and atlases were our primary sources of information but all that changed with the advent of the internet. Now all we have to do is google!

Old habits die hard however. When my niece phoned in a state of panic on Sunday evening to tell me that her younger sister had just been diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and was being transported to Edmonton by ambulance, I knew nothing about the illness other than the obvious fact that it had something to do with her pancreas. Without thinking, I grabbed a dictionary. Only when I couldn’t find the word there did I think to turn to Google. Within minutes I was reading detailed information about causes, symptoms and treatment.

I absolutely love having a world of information at my fingertips. Whether I’m looking for a business address or the answer to a trivia question, I can almost always find it by googling. Yesterday, when the student that I tutor couldn’t find his copy of the periodic table, I googled it and printed off a new one for him.

Recently I’ve been planning our upcoming summer vacation. When I wondered how long it would take to drive from Moab, Utah to Olathe, Kansas my first instinct was to spread out the maps and start figuring. It didn’t take me long to realize how foolish that was and to resort to using Google Maps instead. Within moments, I was presented with the choice of three different routes each complete with mileage, estimated driving time and step by step details!

Google even speaks 57 different languages! I often use Google Translate to try to figure out the meaning of comments that my Japanese friends post on Facebook. The quality of the translation is often rather dubious and once in awhile it’s so garbled that it’s just plain funny but most of the time, I get the jist of what’s being said.

I knew I’d really outgrown my print generation roots when we decided not to get a daily newspaper anymore. Instead I read the news online, depending on Google News as my main source.

Yes, the world is changing and so is our language. Not only can I not find pancreatitis in the trusty old dictionary that’s been around since college days but it doesn’t have internet either and it most certainly doesn’t include google, googled or googling!

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away.”               – Anonymous

According to the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, which claims to use the most current and carefully researched medical and scientific data in order to estimate how old a person will live to be, I can expect to live until I’m 92!

If genetics has anything to do with it, I should live for a very long time. Each of my parents had just one sibling. All four are still alive today and the youngest amongst them is 86! Our recent trip to Vancouver included visits with all of them.

The eldest is my father’s sister. Two months short of her 92nd birthday, she is frail and very hard of hearing. She lives in a care facility but, until her back gave out less than two years ago, she lived in her own home and until recent years she was an avid world traveler who enjoyed maintaining her large and beautiful gardens.

We celebrated my mother’s 88th birthday last week. Though she spends her days in a wheelchair and has lost most of her sight over the past year, she continues to live at home where she’s lovingly cared for by my father who will be 87 the day after tomorrow. Following his retirement, they traveled the world together and after more than 62 years of marriage, he refuses to consider placing her in care and being separated from her. He does all the grocery shopping and cooking for the two of them. He officially retired from his last volunteer position at the age of 75 but is still active in his church and is considering taking another college course this summer!

On the way home from Vancouver, we stopped in Jasper for a visit with Mom’s sister who, at 86, is the youngest of the four. Widowed several years ago, she continues to live in her own home but she’s far from lonely! She has a wide circle of friends and is committed to staying both mentally and physically active. A hip replacement following a fall on an icy street a couple of winters ago hasn’t done much to slow her down. In fact, she’s planning on going hiking again this summer. She’s actively involved in seniors activities in Jasper and sometimes goes along on outings as a caregiver for someone younger than herself!

Yes, I come from stubborn and hardy stock and should be around for many years! Of course, I’m realistic enough to realize that I could be run over by a bus tomorrow, though in Sedgewick that’s highly unlikely! Having lost a daughter at 5 years of age and both my parents-in-law in their sixties, I realize that life isn’t always fair and good genes isn’t a guarantee of longevity but the odds are in my favour. More important than number of years, however, is what we choose to do with them. The legacy passed on to me by my parents and my aunts is not only one of long life but also one of living life to the fullest and that’s what I aim to do for as long as I continue drawing breaths!