Memories

By Submitted by Bonnie Shaver

A little house with three bedrooms and one car on the street. A mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat.

In the kitchen on the wall, we had our only phone. There was no need for recording things; someone was always home.

We had a living room where we would congregate, unless it was mealtime in the kitchen, where we all ate.

We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine, when meeting as a family, those two rooms would work out fine.

We had one TV set and channels, maybe two, but always at least one of them had something worth the view.

For snacks, we ate potato chips that tasted like a chip, and if you wanted flavor, there was Lipton’s onion dip.

Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook, and nothing could top treats from Betty Crocker’s book.

Weekends were for family trips or staying home to play. We all did things together, even going to church to pray.

When we went our weekend trips, depending on the weather, no one stayed at home because we like to be together.

Sometimes, we would separate to do things on our own, but we knew where the others were without our own cell phone.

Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star, and nothing can compare to watching movies in your car.

And there were picnics at the peak of summer season. Pack a lunch and find some trees, and never need a reason.

Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know. Have real action playing ball and not a game video.

Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend, and he didn’t need insurance or a lawyer to defend

The way he took care of you or what he had to do because he took an oath and strived to do the best he could for you.

Remember going to the store and shopping casually? And when you went to pay for it, you used your own money.

Nothing that you had to swipe or punch in some amount. Remember when the cashier actually had to count?

The milkman used to go from door-to-door, and it was just a few cents more than going to the store.

There was a time when mailed letters came right to your door, without a lot of junk mail ads sent by every store.

The mailman knew each house by name and knew where it was sent. There weren’t loads of mail addressed to Occupant.

There was a time when just one glance was all it would take, and you’d know the kind of car — the model and the make.

They didn’t look like turtles trying to squeeze out every mile. They were streamlined with fins and white walls, and really had some style!

The music we played whenever we would jive was from a big-holed, vinyl record called a 45.

The record player had a post to keep them all in line. Then, the records would drop down and play one at a time.

Oh, sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today. But always, we were striving, trying for a better way.

Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun. How can you explain the game of Kick the Can and run?

Remember boys put baseball cards between bicycle spokes? And remember, for a nickel, red machines had small, bottled Cokes.

That life seems so much easier and slower in some ways. I love the new technology, but I sure do miss those days.

So time moves on, and so do we, and nothing stays the same. But I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.