Sign of the times...

Today I was sitting at a red light and I happened to look to my right. Okay, actually I was double checking to make sure that no one had seen me singing my little heart out to Storyville’s Good Day for the Blues. I was in the car by myself, so the music was super loud, and I was beltin’ it out… all about how “our love is drifting…”. Seriously love that song. Love that Malford Milligan.

Sitting at the red light in the lane next to me was an older gentleman in a beat-up Ford pick-up truck. He was wearing a red plaid flannel shirt, a cowboy hat, and had a scruffy white beard. He looked like he’d just gotten finished feeding the cows and had to run ‘into town’ for a few things.

Those of you who grew up in more rural areas are familiar with this usage of ‘town’. “Town” could have nothing more than a Dairy Queen and a hardware store, but its still ‘town’, and sometimes you have to go ‘into town’ (which incidentally is completely different from the term, “goin’ to town”. But that’s yet another blog. ;)

So this grandfatherly looking farmer/ rancher dude sits back in his seat, and pulls out his Blackberry. Um, what?!! Blackberry?!! He starts texting, or making an appointment, or maybe he’s just adding ‘pick up more cow chow’ to his To-Do list. But the point is that he is completely messing with the little image in my head! Oldsters with gadgets and gizmos?!! It’s just not right.

I know we’re moving forward in this techno-savvy world, but I was just surprised to see that Farmer Hank is clearly equipped with better technology than I am. All I have is a cell phone, which I will begrudgingly text on, if the need arises. I was having Crackberry envy, sitting at the red light.

Then to further destroy the illusion, I spied a Starbucks cup in the cupholder of his ancient truck. Now, for all I know, he was using it as his ‘spit cup’ for his chewing tobacco, but at one point it WAS a Grande decaf, 1/2 fat vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso. It is 2009, after all. It’s just the sign of the times.

Onward and upward, I guess. Blackberries and Starbucks for one and all! But seriously, if my grandparents request to be my ‘friends’ on Facebook, I, for one, am just not sure how I’ll feel about it. ;)