So interesting.  We are on the cusp. The last person born in the 19th century turns 117 in Italy and she had a shitty life.  She doesn’t seem all that happy now either so consider that.

This fascinates me, the bridging of periods of time that seem so remote in one lifetime.

Born on 29 November 1899, four years before the Wright brothers first took to the air, she is the world’s oldest living person. Her life has spanned three centuries, two world wars and over 90 Italian governments.

Like when we found out a few years ago that President John Tyler’s grandsons are still alive.  Now that’s freaky. Tyler was born in 1790.  He had a son in 1853.  That son had boys in 1924 and 1928.  His grandsons are younger than my dad.

When I think about the world my father was born into in 1919 it is amazing.  Woodrow Wilson was president and we started prohibition the next year.  His world was still powered by coal, streetlamps by gas, transportation was still largely by steam or horse, cars were just taking off.  The first commercial radio broadcast was when he was 3. Movies were silent until he was 10.  There was no air conditioning.  Refrigeration was getting a block of ice for your ice box.