I was reviewing some of the many articles that I had written in Google Docs where I used to compose my early blog posts. I am not exactly sure why I stopped doing that but I was delighted in reading some of them. How different my approach was to blogging back in mid 2007.
I hadn't taken up photography as a hobby at that point and didn't do much in the way of Localism posts since the idea hadn't even been thought up yet by ActiveRain at that point.
The interesting part of this early article was that it was my first Featured post. I am going to copy and paste the original post here. I warn you, back then I wrote a wall of words and most of my comments were the size of mini-posts themselves. But I enjoyed re-reading it and thought you like it as well.
Life Then and Now
Take a look back to American life that was so different from the one we live today. For those of you in the late summer and fall of your lives you may appreciate a trip back to a different time with different values than the ones we live with today.
For those of you in the spring and very early summer of your lives, you will look at today with fond memories as the way it used to be. With change always certain, our lives are speeding up faster and faster with maybe just a little bit less of a feeling of contentment. Let's see.
I remember as a little guy how my parents would go grocery shopping, every Saturday evening without fail. The home cooked meals for the upcoming week depended on it. As a youngster, I used to get all cleaned up ( going out in public, we had to "wash your hands and face and comb your hair". Those were words we could expect to hear) and we'll all go grocery shopping. My Dad always knew someone at the Krogers or the A&P where they shopped and he would spend his time talking to people while Mom pushed the cart and selected what foods were being purchased for the week.
What a wonderful time it was getting to go out with my parents. Many times a Drive-In movie would follow that food shopping trip and what fun to know that Popcorn was just ahead if we would just behave and then they actually took us there. It didn't much matter what the movie was, it was a special night out. During the week, I was always the one sent to the local corner store when we needed a fresh supply of bread or milk. Most times I could even keep the change for doing that particular chore ( any action done that was deemed helpful). I must have made a lot money as kid back then as by brothers and sisters were always borrowing money form me. Interest, what's that?
I so vividly remember heading off to school and always carrying all my books under my arm. I remember putting a belt around them a few times. Seemed I was always dropping one. We didn't have back packs, it was under the arm and dropping them once in while and that was normal to. School gave all of us kids a certain sense of belonging. I suppose that hasn't really changed. Our friends would be there at school and it was an important time in each of our lives. We dressed differently to. Pegged legged pants and white socks were in and flip flops hadn't been invented yet.
The teachers also seemed intent on inspiring us and they made learning fun. When we got home from school, it was usually an hour or two before dinner and that was our personal time. You could just go out, meet friends, hang out by the corner store, whatever you wanted to do. But once dinner happened, it was hit the books and do your home work and we would repeat this for 5 days a week.
Come Saturday and Sunday though, that was a special time to both work (to earn an allowance) and just mess around. I like most kids where we lived had certain chores, like lawn mowing or helping my dad in whatever he was doing. "Hand me wrench", I would hear him say, get me a cloth, run in the house and do whatever he needed me to do. Being his little helper had huge rewards. As I grew up, I had already learned how to use most of his tools and having watched my Dad fix many things, doing any sort of repairs today comes easy for me.
After the chores were done, we were assured of getting our allowance ( pay day) and that usually meant we had some bargaining power for some extra bits of pleasure, be it a pop ( anything carbonated), for candy we had easy access and other than from the dentist, it was never forbidden. It didn't matter so much what is was, if it was something we wanted to buy, it gave us a lot of pleasure. Those rewards also made the chores worthwhile and we even thought up a few extra things that paid pretty well, returning pop bottles for cash. We were instructed however that we had to save 1/2 of the allowance and any other monies that we earned. You must save for college or a rainy day ( the only rainy days I was aware then were the wet ones).
We always seemed to have our special times to be with friends and do the fun stuff kids do-swimming in the summer, sledding in the winter, raking and burning leaves in the fall. Life was good.
The spring time back east always meant rain and that was also fun for me. I loved putting on my yellow slicker and finding any excuse I could to get out in the rain. Finding special refuge from the rain under trees or in storage areas was so cool-watching the rain fall and dreaming of sunny days that had no limits. I remember that sometimes, rainstorms meant family times as well. The air was so fresh and cool and lightning and thunder storms were fun as we all huddled around half scared but half feeling the love and protection and warmth of the rest of the family. It was often still cold in the spring and when it it was raining we could light one of the 3 fireplaces we had at home. Rains storms were some pretty good times, as I remember. It just seemed OK to not be doing much.
As the years passed, new experiences and new involvements meant special new recognition's. From being a paper boy and earning extra money, we as a family talked about our futures. I wanted to be a doctor and knew that this would be in my future. As I would talk to my parents , always with responding discipline and respect, they would know best how to guide me. They would help me feel empowered that I could accomplish just anything I dreamed.
It was different then. There was no computer to search things out. It had to be a weekly trip to the library and through books we could see our lives transform. It would take much longer but that journey was fascinating. The process was slower then but there was actually time to reflect on it . In fact it seemed we had endless time back then.
Today, there seems a gap. A sort of connective tissue that goes missing very often. That same rain storm of the past is today nothing more than an obstacle to be overcome. Waiting them out ( enjoying them) would just be wasting too much time. They are just obstacles now in that they make traffic tougher but we proceed anyway not wanting to waste a second in going somewhere to do something.
Going grocery shopping today has become a mostly efficient exercise. No one is talking to each other, maybe at the check out counter, but pretty much people are just moving too fast to notice anyone else much less talk to them. Get what you came for and get going.
There are no more Drive-In movies, at least where I live, here in San Diego. Today,we go to the giant 20 screen Metroplex with endless volumes of humans moving about to catch a movie ( stadium seating is a must have). But it is not the same. And the movie seems to matter now more than it did back growing up. Today, we don't want to waste our time or resources on much less than a blockbuster. The times are different. I make no apologies for missing those special times. Today the special times would be considered nothing significant but then, they were everything to us and now they have become fond memories.
It is the way it was for me. I am not sure that anyone would ever want to go back to the way things were growing up, but it is fun every now and then to visit those special memories. That was life back then growing up in the late 50's and 60's, a different time and a different place, that left me with loving and pleasant memories.
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