Incongruity

I must be hopelessly old-fashioned.

There I was, in the midst of 5:00 traffic after work today, stopped at a traffic light. As is my habit, I checked the rearview mirror in my car. In the car behind me was a woman who looked to be around 65 years old. To me, she looked like a stereotypical grandmother with her all-white hair. Then I did a double-take, because Grandma was talking on a cell phone, in traffic, in a scenario you would expect to see from a twenty-something.

Now, I have a cell phone myself, and have been known to answer it while driving. Cell phones are not inherently evil things that destroy a person's soul. Somehow, though, this little vignette left me feeling a little sad. It just didn't feel right that Grandma should be out there "climbing the corporate ladder" as it were, fighting rush hour traffic and hurrying home to warm up her frozen dinner in the microwave like the rest of us working girls. I want to think of all Grandmas everywhere puttering around the kitchen, taking fresh cookies out of the oven when the grandkids burst in from school, or snuggling with a toddler in a rocking chair. You know, doing Grandma stuff!

Then I had to laugh at myself. Because I was right there in the same traffic, headed home to microwave my dinner after a long day at the office, and I'm a grandmother too.