Coach4aday blog posts are ideas that are shared to help people grow and learn.
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Each year the blog takes on a different focus. In 2019 the goal is for each post to bring you the reader a lesson, quote, message, or story that can help you grow.
Gratitude
It is sometimes hard for me to grasp that my grandfather John Joseph Kenney was born 140 years ago in 1879. He was born in Jersey City NJ on January 7, 1879. He passed away on 1/5/1962 when I was just 9 years old.
Photo below is him cradling me as a small infant in the spring of 1953. My step-grandmother Katherine Murphy (10/29/1891-12/08/1968) is with the man I called Pop.
Pop lost his first wife Bridget Masterson Kenney (6/27/1879-2/13/1936) at the age of 56 to breast cancer. My dad was 16 when she died. My Pop remarried Katherine Murphy on 10/11/1941.
In 1919 he was 40 years old when my dad was born and I sometimes wonder what life was like for him as a grown man living a century ago. I often stop and think of the sacrifices and changes my grandparents and parents made to give me the life I live today. I am grateful for all that they did.
I wonder if many people stop and experience gratitude for the changes we all have experienced in our lives. It because more daunting when we consider what changes are ancestors experienced in the past 100 years.
Here are some examples of change from 1917 till today.
Wages
1917: The average US hourly wage was 22 cents an hour ($4.90 per hour when adjusted for inflation)
– Today: The average US hourly wage is approximately $26 per hour.
A century ago the average worker just earned between $200 and $400 a year
About 1 in 5 household used some type of domestic servant or housekeeper.
Lifestyle and Life Expectancy
1917: Only 1 in 7 homes had a bathtub or indoor plumbing-Average Life expectancy for men was 47
Today: Over 99% of homes have indoor plumbing and life expectancy for men is 77.
Travel
1917-It took 5 days to get from London to New York; 3.5 months to travel from London to Australia.
Today: A nonstop flight gets you from London to New York in a little over 8 hours, and you can fly from London to Australia in about a day, with just one stop.
Education
1917: Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
– Today: Over 80 percent of all Americans graduated high school this past year.
In 1915-20% of Americans could not read or write
Phones
1917: Only 8 percent of homes had a landline telephone.
– Today: Forget landlines! In the US, nearly 80 percent of the population has a smartphone (a supercomputer in their pockets). More than half of all American households now use only cellphones rather than older landlines.
Populations
1917 the population of Las Vegas was 30. Today it is 647,000.
In 1917 the population of Raleigh NC was less than 22,000. Today it is 470,000
I can only fathom what changes my granddaughter will experience in her lifetime.
coach4aday 
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