When I went to visit my grandpa over spring break, we took a ride into town in his 2000 Ford F-150 to get some new light fixtures for the kitchen. His truck had just registered 100,000 miles, which prompted him to ask me how my Ford was running. I told him mine was at 90,000 miles earlier this year and the engine is still really clem. He said, “It’s amazing how long a vehicle will run if you take care of it.”
Grandpa O. describes himself as “old as dirt,” which is ironic because he’s farmed the soil in northern Illinois for close to a century. He’s one of those people who eats an apple a day and dunks half a doughnut in his morning coffee as he flips through the Bureau County Republican. He’s someone I’ve looked up to my entire life, even though I’m much taller than him now.
This past weekend, my whole family visited for his 90th birthday. We went out to eat at his favorite restaurant, The Cellar, in Geneseo. It’s quite the accomplishment to have a practically clean bill of health at 90 years old, and it’s even more special to have such a wonderful family surrounding you to celebrate an incredible life.
This weekend, I thought over and over again, “Wow, the world has vastly changed since Grandpa came into it.”
When my grandpa started farming in the 1930s with his grandfather, he rode behind donkeys and horses that plowed the fields. Half of the United States workforce were rural farmers at that point. Now, he helps his son operate a John Deere combine that uses GPS to practically drive itself and costs upwards of $480,000. Today, less than two percent of the U.S. population is directly employed in agriculture.
The first time he walked into a movie house, it was to see the first full-length animated feature in history: Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” You couldn’t see a movie anywhere else. It was a special experience. Televisions weren’t marketed to the public until after World War II. Now, people skip the theater and watch movies on their laptops before they’re even released.
He still doesn’t own a computer of any kind. All of his records are kept in notebooks. He can tell you the makes and models of every appliance he’s ever bought, including the date he bought it on and the day it was installed. Most of his old refrigerators have been re-purposed as cabinets.
When I was younger, I had a little globe, and I’d sit on the couch while grandpa showed me where he travelled. He joined the Marines a year early, at 17, during World War II and saw a lot of the world. His finger traced the routes of his ships through the Strait of Gibraltar, around the Mediterranean and across the Pacific to the Philippines. Now, at 21, I got to show him the route my Boeing 777 took over the Arctic to get to Seoul, and the bullet train I took to get to Pyeongchang for the 23rd Winter Olympics. When he was born, the Winter Olympics had only been held twice. He didn’t have a camera to take pictures, but I had a phone that allowed me to Facetime my family from half-way around the world.
He’s lived through 16 U.S. presidencies (from Coolidge to Trump), all seven James Bonds, four American wars, a great depression, a great recession and all the good times in between. Every day, he wakes up with the chickens, he does some small tasks around the farm to stay in shape, and the 4:30 p.m. round of Jeopardy keeps his mind sharp. I wouldn’t be surprised if he accrues as many years as his truck that has thousands of miles.
Many years have passed, and the world continues to change at a rapid pace, but the one thing that hasn’t changed much has been our family. Sure, it’s added new lines and models, but the motor has been the same. The motor has kept on churning, and the motor was right. It’s amazing how long something will run if you take care of it.
