u/2spoos

I am a born and raised USA citizen that left the USA in 2016. I had not been back for a visit since 2019. But a dear friend is dying of cancer and I am hospice trained so I volunteered to fly in and give the family help in her care.

Her sister picked me up at the airport in Houston. She said we needed to stop by the grocery store on the way home to pick up something for dinner. While we were in the grocery store, someone broke into her truck, found my baggage in the extended cab, and took off with it.

I need three medications. They are not an option. I have to have them. Funny enough, I had carried them in my purse on the flight because I could t have them get lost with checked baggage, but put them in my bag when we got to the truck in the airport garage as I didn’t want to take the bulky pill box into the store.

After an interaction with cops who could have cared less, we went the house and I started calling around to get into a doctor. As it was late afternoon I was directed to a doc-in-the-box which was a cost shock. I then called CVS to get the cost of the drugs without insurance. $3200 on top of the 24/7 clinic fees. Nope. Couldn’t do it.

So I called the airline and got a flight back home for the next day by paying $390 to bump up the date - about the same price quoted to see the doctor in the 24/7 clinic. After arriving back in Queretaro, QRO, I went straight to the pharmacy as here I don’t need to see a doctor for a prescription. A month’s supply of the three meds I had stolen was 1000 pesos (about $60 USD.)

I have lived for 11 years here in Mexico without even my garden hose being taken. What I spend on healthcare without insurance for a whole year in Mexico is a fifth of what doc/meds for just one month would have cost me in Houston.

The saddest bit was I got such a short time with my friend. And it was obvious her daughters and husband needed my extra hands and hospice skills. Everyone in the airport, grocery store, on the phone getting set up to get my meds replaced…everyone… was emotionally flat. I was not surprised to find my friend down and out. She is dying. But everyone else was no more engaging and pleasant than she was. Sure, I had a short time and eventually I would have found those positive people. But I don’t remember have no one smile back at me in Houston. I’m a smiley red head - my bubbly self usually gets positive responses.

It was a dark depressing experience. I hope it was an anomaly. If not, my heart breaks for you all.

I was born in 1962 so even though I fall under the Boomer's umbrella, I have never fit them identity wise. I'm a poster child why Generation Jones was added.

I was building my own computer's when DIMM and SIMMS were an important consideration. I have gone from dot-matrix, to laser, to inkjet, to now having a 3D printer. I use to have to write micros and macros to do a spreadsheet in Lotus 1-2-3. I piled up 8", 3.5", CDs, DVDs, SDs cards, and now have things spread out all over clouds. I have had to learn massive amounts of new software, not because of change of job, but because of change of decade. I learned BASIC right off the bat and still am proud to have been one of the original basic bitch crew - as that is what dealing with programing made me.

Not once in 55 years have I been against ANY tech improvement. But now I'm angry and panicked and absolutely want nothing to do with anything AI. Have I hit that "old lady" wall which means that everything going forward will not include me? I thought it would come to a point I wouldn't be on board because I did not understand how something worked. This feels more morally based than intellectually based. But...isn't that the excuse an old person would use?

TLDR: is a person destined to age out of technology no matter what era they were born in and what tech background they have had? Or can a person just as likely reject new tech due to personality, ethics, and what they value as intellectual progress.