My grandmother is 88 years old. That’s her, above, with my late grandfather in 1942. I spent the evening with her today and always enjoy our time together. In addition to being a voracious consumer of newspapers and magazines, she’s more proficient at using the internet than many people I know who are half her age. She regularly emails, does online shopping, and reads news sites.
Today I told her, half-kidding, that she should start a blog, just for kicks. But she was interested in no such thing. “No way,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to share all those personal details online. I’m not crazy!” I think she might be on to something there.
Later in the visit, we were in a pharmacy examining a selection of multivitamins. She turned to me, smiled, and hit me with this riddle: “Now, if they say a pill is chewable, does that mean you have to chew it? What if you just swallow it?” I laughed and thought: that’s a great question. And I have no idea what the answer is.
I'm Newley Purnell, an American journalist in Bangkok. I report for Bloomberg BNA, ABC News Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and more.