Not just generational
I knew E's mom was having to step up and stretch to be a caregiver for her husband, but I didn't realize how much. She never balanced her checkbook. She's never pumped her own gas. She worked part time as a hair dresser for awhile once, and buys and sells stuff on consignment, but her world is amazingly small (the town 15 miles away from their home in Connecticut was 'all the way over THERE?!'). It's kind of neat to watch her grow, but kind of terrifying to realize how stunted she was.
My grandmothers are both very near her age; definitely the same generation. My paternal grandma has a college degree and worked as office manager in her husband's law firm up until she retired a few years ago. My maternal grandmother is STILL the book-keeper at the town hospital, took five children on a cross-country road trip while pregnant with twins, and spent a summer living so far up the Elwha with those same kids that the weekly groceries were delivered by pack horse.
Granted, maternal grandma's life is pretty strange by many standards, but even my paternal-grandma's country-club/shopping/ladies-luncheon world is broader than E's mom's to a mind-boggling extent.
My grandmothers are both very near her age; definitely the same generation. My paternal grandma has a college degree and worked as office manager in her husband's law firm up until she retired a few years ago. My maternal grandmother is STILL the book-keeper at the town hospital, took five children on a cross-country road trip while pregnant with twins, and spent a summer living so far up the Elwha with those same kids that the weekly groceries were delivered by pack horse.
Granted, maternal grandma's life is pretty strange by many standards, but even my paternal-grandma's country-club/shopping/ladies-luncheon world is broader than E's mom's to a mind-boggling extent.