Chatty Cathy was an expensive gift at $25 in 1960. A nice house was $8,000....a new car about $2,500.....our rent wasn't quite $50 a month! So that puts it in perspective!Bail outs, shmail outs! What is going on in this country? I have been wondering for sometime where all the excess we experience in this country was headed and I had a feeling things were gonna get scary when the bubble finally burst. Folks, we (collectively as a country) have abandoned the principal of delayed gratification and we are all gonna pay for that now. I am gulity as well. I just remember a time when you didn't have everything you wanted...right when you wanted it. I learned it early when I had to wait several Christmases to get my Chatty Cathy.
My family lived in an upstairs apartment until I was eight years old as my mom and dad saved for a down payment for a house. We had one car and we never used charge cards. My father, a bricklayer, worked away for weeks at a time taking our car so my mom, my sister and I walked to the grocery store, the laundry matt, and even the doctor's office when needed to go. My grandparents were ten miles away in the county seat and would help out if we really need to be driven some place. We were well fed and had lovely clothes from the best children's shops for school........we just didn't have a car much of the time. Thankfully we lived in a small town and everything was within walking distance! (I mean EVERYTHING!) Once a month we would all head to NY State for whatever we lacked in our little town and stocked up. We always visited King Solomon in Portville who had the best meat market in the area and picked out wonderful cuts of steak and roast. I always knew I had it good. I saw fellow students at school who were not so fortunate. My mother always made sure all my old clothes were given to someone who really needed them. I remember boxing them up for students less fortunate and feeling really good about that. It never crossed my mind I was not on equal footing as those students living in large, spacious homes.
I loved our apartment with the huge front porch and cried when we finally moved into the center of town on a tree lined street with older two story homes. I had my favorite climbing trees on the grounds and missed them like you miss a best buddy. (The house had been a huge single family home with grounds surrounding.) I was also the oldest kid up on that hill and all the other kids pretty much followed my lead. Being the boss was something I enjoyed back then. I was the one who decided if we were going to play kick the can or hide and seek. Moving to a neighborhood full of kids....some who were older was quite a trauma. Hahaaa.... I remember thinking how bossy that Debby McLauglin across the street was. My mom cracked up and thought it was time I got some of my own medicine.
You know I think of happy times in my life and I go back to the apartment house on the hill. I wonder if my parents enjoyed it there like I did. There were great neighbors to laugh and talk with on the porch in the evenings. We had a huge garden and there were lillies of the valley growing under the huge lilac bush. It was evident there had been someone who planned the grounds there and I had a sense those flowers were there on purpose. I remember wondering if some mom and her little girl had planted them many years ago........I spent a lot of time outside by myself early in the mornings and I loved the smells and the sounds of the birds. I had a fantastic sand box and could see my mom upstairs in the kitchen window. I would get busy on "baking" beautiful mud pies with flowers adorning them. There were also red berries (we thought they were poison) and purple elderberries to put on top of my pies, too .......I also remember the beautiful white birch trees. Those were good times and sometimes when I feel stressed I close my eyes and go back to those spots where I felt peaceful and surrounded by beauty. The feeling is much like the one I had when I met the Lord so now I know He was there with me all along and I had no idea. It is humbling and comforting to realize. While we were waiting for a home of our own the Lord was there and while waiting REAL life was taking place.
My family lived in an upstairs apartment until I was eight years old as my mom and dad saved for a down payment for a house. We had one car and we never used charge cards. My father, a bricklayer, worked away for weeks at a time taking our car so my mom, my sister and I walked to the grocery store, the laundry matt, and even the doctor's office when needed to go. My grandparents were ten miles away in the county seat and would help out if we really need to be driven some place. We were well fed and had lovely clothes from the best children's shops for school........we just didn't have a car much of the time. Thankfully we lived in a small town and everything was within walking distance! (I mean EVERYTHING!) Once a month we would all head to NY State for whatever we lacked in our little town and stocked up. We always visited King Solomon in Portville who had the best meat market in the area and picked out wonderful cuts of steak and roast. I always knew I had it good. I saw fellow students at school who were not so fortunate. My mother always made sure all my old clothes were given to someone who really needed them. I remember boxing them up for students less fortunate and feeling really good about that. It never crossed my mind I was not on equal footing as those students living in large, spacious homes.
I loved our apartment with the huge front porch and cried when we finally moved into the center of town on a tree lined street with older two story homes. I had my favorite climbing trees on the grounds and missed them like you miss a best buddy. (The house had been a huge single family home with grounds surrounding.) I was also the oldest kid up on that hill and all the other kids pretty much followed my lead. Being the boss was something I enjoyed back then. I was the one who decided if we were going to play kick the can or hide and seek. Moving to a neighborhood full of kids....some who were older was quite a trauma. Hahaaa.... I remember thinking how bossy that Debby McLauglin across the street was. My mom cracked up and thought it was time I got some of my own medicine.
You know I think of happy times in my life and I go back to the apartment house on the hill. I wonder if my parents enjoyed it there like I did. There were great neighbors to laugh and talk with on the porch in the evenings. We had a huge garden and there were lillies of the valley growing under the huge lilac bush. It was evident there had been someone who planned the grounds there and I had a sense those flowers were there on purpose. I remember wondering if some mom and her little girl had planted them many years ago........I spent a lot of time outside by myself early in the mornings and I loved the smells and the sounds of the birds. I had a fantastic sand box and could see my mom upstairs in the kitchen window. I would get busy on "baking" beautiful mud pies with flowers adorning them. There were also red berries (we thought they were poison) and purple elderberries to put on top of my pies, too .......I also remember the beautiful white birch trees. Those were good times and sometimes when I feel stressed I close my eyes and go back to those spots where I felt peaceful and surrounded by beauty. The feeling is much like the one I had when I met the Lord so now I know He was there with me all along and I had no idea. It is humbling and comforting to realize. While we were waiting for a home of our own the Lord was there and while waiting REAL life was taking place.
1 comment:
Oh, for the innocence of youth again! How I long for those really early years of my life. It didn't take long-even in my childhood to discover the disappointments of life. I thank God for his love. I know I could not meet each morning without Him!
Post a Comment