Modern Families – Now vs Then

So, here I was trying to get hold of a writing prompt to inspire me and up comes this one! Note, this prompt is dated exactly a year ago. Weird huh!

Daily Prompt :- Modern Families

If one of your late ancestors were to come back from the dead and join you for dinner, what things about your family would this person find the most shocking?

Disclaimer: I value my family and the traditions, heritage that they all put stock into. It has definitely help shape who I am. To be read with a pinch of salt. Any sense of disrespect is definitely not intended.

 Let’s get started.

Curtains Open : Great Grandparents get down from a strangely shaped contraception called Time Turner. After exchanging pleasantries, my parents invite them into the house.

Shock #1: Is this your house or the servant quarters?

You see, long ago, my ancestors lived in huge houses that roughly covered an area equal to one floor of an apartment complex. Not to mention the lush green backyards, with elaborate gardens. The current living situation would definitely make them claustrophobic. If you still don’t believe me take a look at this –

Shock #2: Changes in Lifestyle

Right from my clothing to my education, my job, my marital status, my opinions would be a shock for my great grandparents. Don’t get me started on the scientific advancement. The shock would have more to do with the possibility of all these things and not the thing itself.

 

Shock #3: Advent of Nuclear Families

I think this would be the biggest shock of them all. Once upon a time, joint families were the norm. The house would be full of cousins, siblings, aunts & uncles. Everyday used to be a huge celebration of sorts. Today, none of us stay in the same place as our siblings, leave alone cousins. We talk to them once in a while and meet them rarely on family functions. Agreed, technology does help but it cannot bring back what once was. The family gap is widening folks.

Even after all these shocks, I think my great grandparents would still be extremely happy to have met their great grand kid, pamper me and of course bless us all before its time to go back.

So how do you think your ancestors would react?

Of Memories And Moving On

A memory. It’s like sand, brittle rock — a shard of the original substance, a snapshot in a long and confusing movie, a particle of space and time. It’s minuscule but it lingers. It will swallow you up if you let it. It’s like going on a fast, you feel satisfied at first, but you always end up starving.

You can explain a memory to someone, but you can’t make them feel it. You can’t describe how your heart skips a beat when a certain someone looks deeply into your eyes. You can’t recreate the overwhelming content that rushes over when you win after losing for so long. You can’t explain the adrenaline surging through when you are on a roller coaster.

We all get frustrated when we romanticize the past. We miss the things we’ve lost, the places we’ve left, and the people we used to be. We miss the times that were familiar, and we long for the moments that have gone by. But you can’t live through memories, and you don’t grow by being comfortable. You have to fail before you can dream, and you have to hurt before you can love. You must bleed for the wound to heal, but eventually you need to slap on a band-aid and get on with your life.

And that’s what I try to do.

A memory: I was drowning.
And then I learned how to swim.
Towards a brighter future.