I taught Primary yesterday in the Templeton Ward when I brought up the subject of what it was like when I was the same age as the class members. It wasn't all that profound, but when I went Visiting Teaching today, the subject came up again with the Sisters I visited, both being about the same age group that I am in. When the mind gets to working, it is amazing how many things are remembered that might not have been thought about for a long time.
This got me to wondering, have I touched on this before? If I have, forgive me for bringing it up again, but you know when you get to be my age, you forget just about as much as you remember, especially if it has been over 20 minutes. Bear with me!
I don't ever recall the subject of "drugs" in my youth. Oh, I knew about going to the Drug Store and getting medicine when we were sick, but not the "street drugs" like we read, and hear about nearly everyday now. I am sure they must have been around, but our lives were pretty slow paced back then, and I don't believe anyone I knew, or who was close to us had any need of such stimulants. In fact, I don't recall packaged cigaretts when I was little. My Uncle smoked a pipe, or rolled his own from a sack of tobacco and cigarett papers he carried in his shirt pocket. I don't remember Liquor stores or even seeing Beer or the like in the store. In fact, come to think about it I don't recall soft drinks. We usually had lemonade, water or milk. Things were so much different back then. We didn't have a telephone until I was in High School. When we did have one put in, we had a "party line" and share the line with another family. They had
a ring, and we had one. If we picked up the phone and someone was talking, that ment the party
line was in use, and we had to wait our turn to use the phone. Phone numbers were the abbreviatioin of a name (2 letters) followed by 4 numbers. Our "prefix" was Layfatte or LA 6705. I sure felt "big" when we got that phone. Not everyone else in the neighborhood had one.
I think the reason we qualified was due to the work Dad was doing. Mother had a friend in the
PTA - I think she was an officer on the board with Mom. When I would answer the phone she would say "hello, little bird on the line". It was a form of endearment. I thought it was cute at the time, now I am not so sure.
I've talked about Christmas and trips we took, I remember doing that. I have gone over the time I danced, but I am not sure I brought out the trouble I had with the other kids. I was what they called a "speciality act". Toe Dancers weren't all that common even back then. I guess there was just as much jealousy about being a "star" then as there is today. Not that I felt like a "star". One of the girls particularly was a problem. One day when there was a competition for some thing or another, her mother wanted her to win. Personally, I didn't care. While I was waiting for my turn to go on stage, the girl, at the urging of her mother came over and stomped on my foot. It didn't break my foot, but it sure brused it. I went on, but it was sure hard to get through my routine with my foot hurting so badly. I never liked her from then on. In fact I avoided her at every chance when we were on the same program. She was a singer. I couldn't return the favor by stepping on her throat. Come to think of it, that might have been fun at that. (Shame on me!)
Being a kid when I was, sure was a lot more fun that what I see today. We didn't have Radio, which I think I have discussed before. Why we didn't even have a record player - well they were called phonographs back then. When we did get a radio, we also had a record player.
My brother Ralph was out of High School then and he bought what they called the big records. When he had a sad romance, he bought the song "I'll Never Smile Again" and played it until Dad wanted to break it. In fact I think he did. Along came the small records I think they called them
"45" by then we were all old enough to buy what we liked and play music in the evenings. Our
first TV wasn't brought into the home until I was married and had my own home. You know I
didn't know what I missed. Today there are over 100 stations and I can't find very much worth watching. Time to go back to records I guess!
There were no micro waves, dishwashers or automatic washers or dryers. When we did the laundry we had to hang things out on clothes lines in the yard and let them dry. We were careful to hang the colored clothes in shade so they wouldn't bleach out. When I was really small we had a "carpet sweeper". I don't remember when Mom got her first vaccum cleaner. Most of the things the kids of today take for granted weren't even invented back then. We managed just fine. There was a lot more work, but without all the distractions, we seemed to manage to get it all done. Monday was washing, Tuesday was ironing, Wednesday we cleaned the house, Thursday and Friday were days sewing and mending was done along with any shopping that had to be taken care of. Saturday was the "day we got ready for Sunday". Dad usually spent the day in the yard - there was always plenty of yard work to keep us busy. Sunday was a day of rest. I think that is where my Grand Dad brought out the saying: "when I was a boy it was the Holy Sabbath. When I got married it was "the Sabbath". When my kids were little it was "Sunday",
now it is the "week end". Only he spelled it "WEAK END". That about tells it like it is!
I certainly enjoyed going back over that. I suppose I have left out a number of things that would be of interest, but for now that about finishes up what was on my mind. Oh! one other thing - the typewritter was a fairly new invention. When I learned to type it was on a Remington that took pressure to get the keys to hit the ribbon that made the letters show up on the paper, if we needed more than one copy, we used "carbon paper". There weren't copy machines back then. In fact the first duplicator I used was a mimeograph. We had to type on a special paper
they called a "stencil". That was put on a machine with a large drum. The stencil was pulled tight over the drum. When the drum was rotated ink was forced through the stencil and printed on paper. The stencils weren't good for too many copies. Then we had a flat box that was filled with a solid jelly mixture. If you put a printed page on it and let it set, the words would stick to the jelly. When you removed the original you could put another piece of paper over the
jell and transfer the typed or written page. It was not good for too many copies, but it was great because you could keep it at home. Once the jelly held the copy for a length of time, it all turned into colored jelly that could be used again. Pretty primetive, but it sure worked.
"Time marches on" and things get invented which makes everything better, faster and more useable. I don't know when all the changes happened, but they have turned life into a much easier way of doing a great many things. There is a cost for such improvements however. We have learned how to be "lazy". We can now put off until the last minute things we could never have put off before. TV keeps us up to date on world affairs, where we use to have to wait for the newspaper to be delivered. We walked everywhere, but towns have turned into Strip Malls
and Mall complexes where you can shop for everything from soup to nuts without getting out in the rain, or heat of the day. Distance is covered in cars instead of street cars or busses in most areas. Walking is what you do to slim down or help your heart get up to speed so you can slow it down. Track Stars use to run, where today the streets and by ways are full of "runners" trying to get, or keep in shape because they spend way to much time setting in front of the TV. Fast Food has taken the place of "meal time" with the family. Everyone but Dad would set down for breakfast. Each grabbed a lunch box or brown bag with a sandwich, cookies or a piece of pie or cake some fruit and of course the great old thermos of milk. Then in the evening Mom would be found at the stove cooking a well balanced dinner for the family. Everyone sat down together and had a pleasant meal with what else, conversation. Home was home, not a quick stop over between running to and fro.
Sports were played at school, and after school was for doing homework and playing with friends in the neighborhood. A time to have fun and learn how to get along with all ages of kids who lived on the block. In the evening it was common to hear Moms all over the neighborhood call out for the kids to come in for dinner or go to bed. In many places there weren't street lights to play under. We hated the winter because it got dark so early. Oh, and they didn't have "daylight savings time". What ever the season, the clocks stayed the same. Thats why Summer was the best time of the year for the kids. I think the folks liked it too. They had the house to themselves so they could read the evening paper or discuss family things without all the kids in ear shot.
Well it might not seem as if it was all that great, but I have to admit, I reflect back over those days with a great deal of pleasure. I wouldn't want to change my childhood. We didn't know we were poor because no one we knew had it any better than we did. I learned about death when one of my dearest friends was hit and killed by a car when I was 9 years old. She had gone to play with a friend. She was standing on a corner waving goodbye to her friend across the street and stepped off the curb in front of a car that had come to the intersection and was making a turn. The driver didn't see her, and she wasn't watching where she was going. I remember going to her house to pay my respect and finding her mother grieving. Made an impression on me that I still feel very deeply. I have always been careful when crossing streets, and look out
for kids who aren't as careful al they should be, when I am driving.
I learned over the years your friends are here today, and go on into life, usually without being around again. So many, with so few we have the chance to keep in touch with. I suppose that is the way things were ment to be. The reason the Lord gave us memory so we can recall the times and friends we have loved and spent time with. Youth goes by way too fast. I didn't realize that when I had it. Once you have "grown up" you are always "grown up". Youth is something we are given and need to cherish, unfortunately we don't find that out until it is long
gone. Someone my age generally feels youth with all it has is wasted on the young, but the older I get the more I realize the Lord put things in their proper order. When we are young, we can indulge ourselves with having fun, and not worry. We can spend our time doing what we like and becoming all that we can become. One day however, we have to wake up to all the rest of our life. I guess my suggestion is not to waste youth. Don't get caught up in all the "thick of thin things". Everyday has its' very own opportunities. When the day is gone, so are those opportunities. I wasted a lot of time wanting to be "older". I found out it isn't all that it is "cracked up to be". I have found out that saying is very true - "today is a gift, that is why it is called the "present". I never thought about unwrapping each day to see what was hidden inside. I don't suppose any of us do, but it sure would be something worth cultivating while we are still young enough to realize just how great each day can be. Instead of wishing for a Holiday or Vacation to come around, it might be nice to look forward to what tomorrow brings. I guess that is what someone my age looks forward to. The mail in the mail box, the caller on the other end of the telephone ringing. The e-mails that come to my address and of course the time I spend checking out the Blog-us-phere. We can't visit everyone all the time, but just that little
time spent at the other end of the "line" sure can make a day.
My day was made today when the Sisters I Visit Taught told me how much they enjoyed my coming. One is ill with Parkinsons and is barely able to get around now. The other has Rhuematoid Arthritis and has to use a cane to walk around her trailor and a walker when she goes outside. I am older than both of them, and have to thank Father in Heaven that I can do all the things I do. I never thought I would live to be 80 years old, but here I am. If I knew way back then what I know now, I sure would have enjoyed my childhood more. Again, I can see just how wise the Lord was in putting things in their proper order. When I returned from my last Mission I found a saying that goes something like this: "life, live it up, wear it out, use it up, so when the end comes, as come it will, you can let out a sigh of releif and say, WOW I enjoyed the ride". I believe I will be able to say that - the journey has been a great experience, and I do appreciate the contributions you have made to make it so. I love you!
Written this 29th day of June 2009
by Grandma R - Eileen Rosenberg
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