When you get to meet a shooting star, or in this case, a 100-year-old woman.
By Kat Flynn (Actor)
So, my grandmother turned 100 a few weeks ago, and I got to be there to celebrate! Woah, Kat. Come again? Oh yeah, my grandmother is 100 years old. Or young. However you see it.
It's kind of surreal. I mean, she was born in 1917. In 1917...
- Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as President of the United States for a second term.
- The Russian Empire ends after 196 years.
- WW1 is very much still happening, and the U.S. declares war on Germany.
- The Mexican Revolution was transforming Mexico.
- There are protests about lynchings in Tennessee & Texas, in NYC, because of the East St.Louis' riots.
Just imagine. In her lifetime...
- Films have gone from being silent to talking pictures, she could've actually gone to see "The Wizard of Oz" premiere at the theatre.
- The Women's Suffrage Movement, and women actually getting to vote! My grandmother was able to vote!
- Pluto was a discovered and was actually a planet!
- U.S. markets have crashed, risen, and then crashed again.
- The prohibition! Which, I only know thanks to TV shows like "Boardwalk Empire".
- TWO World Wars. She was born in the middle of one, and was already a mother of 4 by the end of the second one.
- The double helix, DNA, is discovered!
- The Civil Rights Acts is passed.
- President Kennedy is assassinated.
- Martin Luther King Jr., a Civil Rights Movement leader, is assassinated.
- We, the U.S., land ON the moon!
- The Berlin wall was built, and destroyed.
- Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa, the first black president.
- Europe became the "European Union", with one single currency.
- The World Wide Web is introduced.
- The Y2K bug, do you remember that?!
- The attacks on the World Trade Centers, the twin towers.
- OUR first black president, Barack Obama.
- The Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare"; the U.S.'s first attempt at a national health care service.
- Same-sex marriage is legalised.
That's NOT to mention, everything else! Like air travel! I mean, my grandmother met my grandfather on a bus.
It was crazy to me. My entire family, from my father's side, was there to celebrate her 100th birthday. As I saw everyone enjoying themselves, it made me realise- we are all here, because of her. Think about it. They're my cousins, my aunts, and my uncles, but their her children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She's soon to have a great-great-grandchild. I'm not sure if her brothers and sisters are even still living. But, she's living her family tree! Do you know what I mean? That has got to be so surreal. So surreal!
Wow. What a life! So incredible. Absolutely incredible. She is a living shooting star. A unicorn. Anyone who lives to be 100 is magical. Pure magic.
xoxo
Image source: Danny Vera Photography
KAT FLYNN is an American Expat living & working in Great Britain. www.katflynn.com
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