Remember When

Do you ever feel like you woke up one day and you were old. Or maybe just from another world. I have been spending too much time with my daughter's friends because I feel a rant coming on. This happens a couple times a year so bear with me. This too shall pass.

 I heard a nameless teenage girl complain that she needed a new cell phone. ( Not mine!!!) Why I asked and she proceeded to tell me all the new features that her phone didn't have. She also proceeded to tell me how unfair her mother was that she would not purchase her this new phone because her phone was only a year old and worked perfectly.  She went on like this was the most abusive parent on the planet.....

Well wake up America some of you  have no idea how good you really do have it.

Can you imagine not having a computer. I didn't have a computer growing up. We went to this wonderful thing called a Library. Do they even make encyclopedias anymore. Remember library card catalogs. I was probably in my twenties before I ever even saw a computer. I bought a set of encyclopedias for my children when they were young. Took me two years to pay for those rascals and they may bury me with them but I am not throwing them out. I educated 4 kids with them and they were a heck of an investment.

Can anyone remember having a pen pal. The anticipation of checking that mailbox at the end of the gravel driveway everyday for that illusive letter from a friend far away. Handwritten with a ten cent stamp attached. How about clipping box tops from a cereal box for that toy on the back and saving your pennies and sending off in the mail for it.  To a little kid it seemed like that package took a lifetime to arrive. And you complain about slow email.

We had one phone in our house and the same phone number for over 50 years. Till both my parents died. In the beginning we had a party line. There were two other houses on our line.  There was no call waiting, you didn't know who was on the other line till you answered. If no one answered you called back. There was no voicemail or answering machine. It was this big black bulky phone but guess what. It is still plugged in on my bedside table and still working. Even without electricity. Imagine that. And I don't even have to stand out in the driveway on one leg to get a signal. And no batteries.

There was one TV with 3 channels in our house growing up and at a certain time of the night the national anthem played and it went off.   Back then you actually had to get up to change the channel. Anyone remember TV Guides? How about those VCR's ? I still have plenty of tapes and still play them .....

 Somewhere I still have a box of 8 tracks, and cassettes. Anyone remember the CB radio craze. I even have one of those around somewhere. Don't see them much anymore. How about those vinyl records. I still have grandma's Truetone radio with a built in record player for those new fangled 78's. And yes it still works !

If your car broke down you didn't have a cell phone you actually had neighbors that stopped and helped you change that flat tire or maybe gave you a lift to where you were going.  Anyone seen a pay phone lately?  And who said that you have to be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. My children fuss at me for not turning my cell phone on. Has it ever occurred to anyone that I do it on purpose. Are those 1000 friends on Facebook really your friends? When you get sick will they come and hold your hand or bring food to your family or just visit with you. Is it really necessary for everyone to know your status always.

Anyone remember when you bought things and they lasted a lifetime and maybe beyond.

 Grandma's lamp still lights the way on a stormy night

My own highchair now holds my own grandchildren

Aunt Sally's clock has been keeping time since 1918 and still serves my kitchen well. No electricity and no batteries. You just have to wind the key once a week.

Grandma's sewing machine still makes the prettiest stitches of all of my 4 machines. And honey is it a great leg workout. Talk about building those calf muscles : )

Mama's Singer still piecing quilts. This is the machine I learned to sew on. Still working!

And all the cell phones I have owned in the last 10 or 15 years other than the one I now carry. Where are they?

In a junk box in the bottom of my closet.

Imagine that .......