When Audrey, my  six-year-old Granddaughter, came from the Denver area for a visit to our farm in Northwest Washington, she asked me to fix a quesadilla for her.

“Sure,” I said.

I got out the frying pan. As I put it on the stove top Audrey said, “Just give it 30 seconds, Grandma.”

I said, “I don’t have a microwave, Audrey.”

She frowned as she watched me put the cheese and tortillas on the counter next to the stove.

“Just give it 30 seconds,” she said again.

I said again, “I don’t have a microwave, Audrey.”

She really didn’t get it.

“Grandma,” she said again as the tortilla began to get hot and cheese started to melt, “you can just give it 30 seconds.”

“Audrey,” I said. “I do not have a microwave oven, but this will work just fine. You will see.”

In a little more than 30 seconds I handed a plate with the warm quesadilla to Audrey.  She accepted it with much skepticism.

A little while later we went out to the back yard where I popped up the umbrella style clothes drying rack.

She jumped back in shock. “What is that?” she demanded.

“It’s a rack for drying your clothes,” I said.

“What!! You don’t have a dryer, either?”

Years ago I read a book called “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler. Amazon says its publication date is 1984—that’s more than 40 years ago. “NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – The classic work that predicted the anxieties of a world upended by rapidly emerging technologies”

Now the shock for the young people is how could we live without all this stuff.