Easy or Hard?

At 6:08 am Aden asked me if I thought my life was hard or easy.  Given the recent switch to Daylight Savings Time, I was tempted to say the former, but honesty compelled me to say that life was truly easy - in a physical sense, anyway.  It's not like we have to walk for miles to get a bucket full of dubious quality water each morning.

She thought for a moment, and nodded. "I sometimes wish I had been born in the 1800's, because life was so simple then, but I know I would probably either live on a farm or in a poor neighborhood in  a city, and either way I would be working really hard. It's just - at least life would be less complex."

I'm glad that she carries a sense of realism along with her historical reflections, because life in any other age - or in any other place on earth right now - would be much harder. Still, I can't argue with her assessment; though our lives are physically easy, they are mentally complex and often rigorous. I hear about high school seniors suffering panic attacks from repeated questioning on their college plans, I see middle schoolers suffering from the onslaught of social media, and I watch my fourth grader stress out because he is in a lower math group - and other kids won't let him forget it.

As a mom, I cope with a list of odds and ends each day. Yesterday included the Perpetually Leaking Shower, the Dodgeball Conundrum, the Braces Marathon, Math Tutoring Techniques, Drivers Training Requirements and my own capital H Homework. Aden and I also got new phones yesterday, which my husband worked on for hours. I'm grateful for the upgrade, but concerned that my mental circuits can't handle the adjustment to more new technology. Perhaps I'll let my daughter figure it out and have her teach me.

Easy, yes, but simple, no. I'd like to see Laura Ingalls Wilder take on the list of tasks we face each day. She'd revel in the dishwasher and washing machine but overload on carpools, computers and cell phones.  The headlines alone might do her in.  On the other hand, I would hate to churn butter and bake bread by hand, and certainly love the indoor plumbing. Guess we'll have to take the age where we landed.