There is the age-old question "What do you give someone who already has everything?" The question probably has a million answers, but most of the time, none come to mind. I was having a discussion with a Guatemalan national about the lifestyle of his family. What he was telling me was nothing less than fascinating. He was fifty-two years old and he said that his grandparents were living in the mountains in the western part of the country. He went on about how no one in the small village pays for food. Each family grows certain fruits or vegetables and others raise certain animals and there is a peaceful and totally non competitive exchange amongst them . He said they have never even heard of half the diseases that we know of. He thinks the average lifespan there is either 100 or close to it. They have no TV, computers, cell phones or anything technological. Every meal is like a festival and they can't even imagine a crime. I began to believe he was pulling my leg. I asked him what he was going to buy for his grandmother's 100th birthday. He replied "I don't know. She has everything she needs." How relative was that statement?" I'm getting my son and his wife event management software for their 10th anniversary and they still need a lot of other things. It's hard to believe I am talking about the same planet.

Posted by Best Known As Logan's Mom at 10:13 am