To have been born into a world on horseback

I think of my maternal grandmother who was born on farm just outside of Los Angeles, at home, in 1886. She traveled mostly on foot or by wagon not more than 50 miles from where she was born. She graduated from Los Angeles High School, married a doctor and had a son. She live within the normal rhythms of life. 
As the 20th Century turned, the rhythms changed. Flight, automobiles, movies, World War, Radio, Depression and Government Intrusion, World War again, TV, Jet Flight and Men on the Moon.
She died not long after the Moon Walks.
When she was born, aside from steam travel, she had more in common with the ancient Romans than she would have had with anyone born today. m/r

Emma Morano, last person alive born in 1800s, turns 117

November 28, 2016

Rome (AFP) - An alert and chatty Italian woman, Emma Morano, on Tuesday celebrates her 117th birthday as the last known person alive who was born in the 19th century.

Born November 29, 1899, she is the world's oldest living person and the secret to her longevity appears to lie in eschewing usual medical wisdom.

"I eat two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth," she told AFP in an interview last month in her room in Verbania, a town in northern Italy on Lake Maggiore.

On a marble-topped chest of drawers stands proudly the Guinness World Records certificate declaring her to be the oldest person alive.

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