The Good Old Days

[RustyAngeL]

My husband and I were just talking about "the good old days" He was born in 1931 I was born in 1952. He was born on a farm in Dickinson ND I was born in a hosptial in Pontiac Mich. He grew up with 18 brothers and sisters. His dad was married twice. He lost his first wife to the flu epidemic in 1917. They had 6 kids. Then his dad married Steve's mom and they had 12 more. Steve came from that litter. He was 18 before he ever saw a big city. That was San Diego when he joined the Marine Corps. He ate off the land, had outdoor plumbing..in other words an outhouse. Can you imagine running to the bathroom at 2 in the morning in the winter when it was 20 below? They walked to and from school, It was a one room school house. They plowed their fields with horses. I can't imagine trying to feed 18 kids. Some of them left because the first bach was older. But there were still 12 kids to feed and they never went hungry. His father prayed with his family in the morning, at every meal and at night. When they knew there was a storm coming Wassel would go out pour Holy W blessed by their priest all over his fields and pray. They never lost a crop. They didn't even know what a radio or a TV was. They knew when were at war all the boys joined the service, most in WW11 Steve was in Korea.

I was born in 1952. I remember our first color TV. We had a nice house, I had nice clothes. Both my parents worked. I came home to a grandmother I adored. She taught me how to make pies. I, in the summer could play all day at a friends house. My parents always knew where I was, and walk home at night and not worry about getting nabbed and killed. The 60's were good days, often times I wish I could go back to them. I remember one day my mom and I went grocery shopping. She was shocked when she spent $50. We had steaks, chicken, coffee, milk, pork roasts, every kind of meat you could think of. That $50 fed three of us for over two weeks. Then we went to get gas, it was .39 cents a gallon. I'm just wondering what was it like when you were growing up? What are some of your memories?

[EricH]

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder

Kevin Arnold looking back on His life at the end of the last episode of the Wonder Years.

Thats me in a nutshell

[Laura]

Those that have seen "A Christmas Story" (the kid that wanted the BB Gun for Christmas) will know what I am talking about.

I simply love that movie (besides the fact part of it was made in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio), the movie takes place in "my era" as a kid. I do have a "disclaimer" that is is probably the only movie I watch that has swearing and cussing in it. This past Christmas, I probably watched it five times, of the 24 hour marathon.

I was born in 1943 and graduated high school in 1961. Much of what I remember as a kid in the late 1940s was pretty much joy and happiness. I was the only child with two brothers and a sister.

My father had been married and was a widower with two sons and one daughter. Four years later, he married my mom, 20 years younger, and I was born 4 years later. By the time, my brothers were serving in WW11 and my sister was married. I suppose I was spoiled rotten lol.

I remember the things Rusty mentioned, although I think gas when I was a kid seemed to be 4 gallons for $1. My dad made around $5,000 a year in one of the steel mills in Youngstown, OH and we thought we were well-to-do. I never remember wanting for anything and life was pretty simple.

The nextdoor neighbor had the first "television" in our neighborhood, and each day after school I would run over there and watch "Howdy Doody". I always remember the very first TV program I watched was "Kukula, Fran and Ollie".

I was raised on the "ole" black and white westerns, mysteries and comedies (of which I have many old programs on DVDs today. My family was the "third" in the neighborhood to have a TV, and folks though we were rich lol.

When I was a kid, Dad had a 1939 Chevy Coupe, with only a front seat and a shelf at the rear window, which I laid on until I was maybe 12 or 13. We would go on vacations in the summer, and I would be waving to everyone between OH and PA. It would take a complete day to get where we were going, and today the trip is about 2 1/2 hours driving.

I went to two schools, one being grade school, grades 1 - 6, and second the junior/high school combined, 7 - 12. We walked in blizzard, in rain, in heat, and I never remember a "day off school" due to weather. Now mind you, it was not uphill all the way there and home again, but it was about a mile or so, and usually we were drenched, or frozen, but we all lived lol.

I was raised in a Lutheran church, and went there from the time I was born until 21 years of age, at which time I moved from the homestead to the big city of Cleveland.

My childhood was probably about as close to a "Norman Rockwell" painting as you could get. But there was also heartache.

When my Mom was in her early 30s, she was diagnosed with a disease not too many people had heard of, MS. That disease changed all our lives in various ways. Slowly through the years changes were made, and my Mom did live until the ripe old age of 74, which was unheard of to live that long with MS at that time. Today, much has been done with research and treatment, and many lives are extended.

Being a "defender" of Christmas even to this day, my youth was full of joy during holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. The dinners and celebrations were remarkable with the extended family.

I remember being allowed to stay up one night and watched part of the very first "political convention" which Ike won the presidency that year. I remember the very first televised "Macy Thanksgiving Parade". I guess I could remember the "firsts" of many television progams (which are classics today).

Well, all for now. I made add more to this story, as the memories flow through my mind.

I would like to hear others' stories from the "Good Old Days"!!

[forrestkc]

We grew up fairly poor. My parents divorced when my brother and I were young, and after that my mother worked 2 and 3 jobs to raise us. My mother's boyfriend of about 10 years when we were growing up was very physically abusive to her and us, and he put mama in the hospital more than once, but other than that, I do have some fond memories of my childhood summers spent at my mawmaws and pawpaws house. We spent our summers fishing and going to swimming holes down in Southern Arkansas where my pawpaw grew up. He would show us cypress logs that he would sit on and fish from when he was a kid (I guess it would take hundreds of years before a cypress log would rot away). I think about swimming in those clear Arkansas rivers, hiking the mountains and the forests there, and fishing those cypress bayous all the time. My brother and I could not have had better grandparents than we did on my Daddy's side.

My pawpaw grew up dirt poor picking cotton and then hauling pulp wood their in southern Arkansas. I think he was married before he lived in a house that had a floor in it. He was hard, hard, worker. In his over 40 years and Reynolds, I think he was only out sick 3 or 4 days from work. After he was retired, he had kept his 5 acres of land as landscaped as a golf course. He was constantly out in his garden or working on something. In his life he was snake bit twice (the first time was when he was 12, he was bit by a cottonmouth and had to sweat it out because they could not afford a doctor), shot 3 times while turkey hunting, and cut 2 of his fingers off while cutting wood (they reattached them, he joked about it later saying that they had to fight the fingers away from the dogs so they could get them on ice and bring the to the hospital with him). I never saw him and my mawmaw even have a cross word between them. My pawpaw died in 1995 and my mawmaw died in 2001. I really miss them.

So when I think back, we had a hard childhood, but we also had a blessed one.

[Gerioke]

When I was a kid growing up in central Ontario, I had the run of the town. We didn't worry about kidnappers and predators. We collected pop and beer bottles from the ditches to support our candy and hockey card habits. Swimming in the creek and fishing were also popular pastimes. My brother and I were raised mostly by my father until I was 8. Then he decided to shack up with this woman who took over the parenting responsibilities while my father sought work in Brampton, about 150 miles away. This woman was an abusive alcoholic and didn't really enhance our lives in any way. She later gave birth to my half brother, who now serves in Afghanistan. She was usually to drunk to deal with his upbringing so I and my older brother were forced to take on the diaper duties.

Somehow I've managed to block out most of the bad memories of my youth and find myself romanticising over the good stuff.

We didn't need seatbelts and got to ride in our convertable, seated on the backrests,hands in the air and wind through our hair.

I could go on but I might start crying

[Iryssa]

We moved around a lot, so most of my favourite childhood memories center around "the lake," where we've always kept a cabin. Back then we were sharing a cabin with my dad's brother and his family (once his family got bigger we gave them the cabin and built our own). The Lake was paradise for a kid...running around everywhere barefoot, always wearing a swim suit under your clothes for those spontaneous swim times, my second cousin (who was one of my bridesmaids) is the only family member close to my age, so she and I spent all our time there together. "I learned how to swim and I learned who I was/A lot about livin' and a little 'bout love" (that last part came later )

[RustyAngeL]

When I was a kid growing up in central Ontario, I had the run of the town. We didn't worry about kidnappers and predators. We collected pop and beer bottles from the ditches to support our candy and hockey card habits. Swimming in the creek and fishing were also popular pastimes. My brother and I were raised mostly by my father until I was 8. Then he decided to shack up with this woman who took over the parenting responsibilities while my father sought work in Brampton, about 150 miles away. This woman was an abusive alcoholic and didn't really enhance our lives in any way. She later gave birth to my half brother, who now serves in Afghanistan. She was usually to drunk to deal with his upbringing so I and my older brother were forced to take on the diaper duties.

Somehow I've managed to block out most of the bad memories of my youth and find myself romanticising over the good stuff.

We didn't need seatbelts and got to ride in our convertable, seated on the backrests,hands in the air and wind through our hair.

I could go on but I might start crying

Yeah Gerioke, I know the feeling. I loved summers as a kid, we lived on a lake. My friend Cindy and I would spend all day on her speed boat, skiing and swimming. We would then spend night at her house or mine. The summers were filled with parties at the lake or at someones house with a pool. In the winters (I lived in Michigan) we had hayrides and ice skating. We were all Christians so everything was safe. On New Years Eve we would all go to church until midnight, have communion, then off to a progessive party, ending at about 7 in the morning. Never any drinking or smoking, as I said all Christians. Yes it does bring tears to your eyes. Life was so good.

[Guest Biblicist]

The good old days weren't always good,

and tomorrow's not as bad as it seems.

[Gerioke]

The good old days weren't always good,

and tomorrow's not as bad as it seems.

And the present is exactly how it looks.

[Christ's Free Servant]

I was born on December 31, 1949 in Akron, Ohio, the third child born to my parents and the first girl. We were a poor family living in a lower-class section of town. From the time I was born until I was five years old, we lived in at least five different houses. During that time period, I also gained two younger sisters. My parents had grown up on the same street and were born in houses on that street, so they knew each other their whole lives, but did not date and then marry until after WWII was over - they were 31 yrs of age, and then they had five kids. Ouch!!

My mom told us she never wanted children, but my dad insisted. She was emotionally withdrawn from us, but she took good care of our physical needs. My dad was an abuser. He wasted his entire life trying to prove he was the best, the smartest, the strongest, the most talented, etc. but he never found peace. I hope he did in his last days on this earth. My parents both died in 2000. On my mom's death bed all she wanted to do was sing songs about Jesus, so that is what we did.

My dad did not keep jobs well because of his temperament, so we moved a lot, all in the same city. And, then my husband's job has taken us several different places, so I've averaged a move every 2.5 years of my life, and in my adult years, they were in different cities and states. So, my whole life was moving, leaving friends behind and starting over.

My parents were very legalistic and we went to church every time the doors were open, but we did not sense the love of God in our home. It was not until I married and had children of my own, that I understood what it was like to have a loving family. My husband tells people that when he married me I was "old," but that the older I have gotten, the younger I have gotten. I think that has to do with the freedom in Jesus.

Ok, now to the happy memories. We lived in this one neighborhood for four years that was really nice - middle class, lots of kids my age to play with, etc. and those were the happiest years of my childhood. We had a neighborhood club and a clubhouse and we put on plays for nickles and dimes and we had bake sales and lemonade stands and car washes. We played team tag, softball, marbles, table games, dolls, jacks, jump rope, chinese jump rope, roller skated, rode bikes, etc. I don't ever remember getting bored. There was always something to do. Oh, and we would get together with the neighborhood kids and sit on our front porch and sing hymns out of the hymn book from cover to cover. We sang a lot of silly songs, too, like "I don't want no more of army life, gee Mom I wanna go home."

When I got a little older, there was a Friday night after the news TV show on (that's back when the TV shut down after the evening news and it was not on 24-7). The show was called Goolardy (sp?). He was one of the pioneers of those movies where they always have people talking in between scenes of the movie. He was really funny and it was a real treat if we got to stay up and watch him. The movies were usually those old monster movies, but that was part of the fun of it. We also had Larry, Curly and Moe during my era, too, which we thought was funny, too (my husband's parents would not let him watch it). Oh, and my first pizza was one of those Chef Boyardee things out of a box and I thought it was wonderful!