Remember When??... That Was Us..

A little house with three bedrooms,
one bathroom and one car on the street.
A mower that you had to push
to make the grass look neat.

In the kitchen on the wall
we only had one phone,
And no need for recording things,
someone was always home.

We only had a living room
where we would congregate,
unless it was at mealtime
in the kitchen where we ate.

We had no need for family rooms
or extra rooms to dine.
When meeting as a family
those two rooms would work out fine.

We only had one TV set
and channels maybe two,
But always there was one of them
with something worth the view.

For snacks we had potato chips
that tasted like a chip.
And if you wanted flavor
there was always onion dip.

Shop-bought snacks were rare because
my mother liked to cook
and nothing can compare to snacks
in Betty Crocker's book.


Weekends were for family trips
or staying home to play.
We all did things together --
even go to church to pray.


When we did our weekend trips
depending on the weather,
no one stayed at home because
we liked to be together.

Sometimes we would separate
to do things on our own,
but we knew where the others were
without our own mobile phone.

Then there were the movies
with your favorite movie star,
and nothing can compare
to watching movies in your car.

Then there were the picnics
at the peak of summer season,
pack a lunch and find some trees
and never need a reason.

Get a cricket game together
with all the friends you know,
have real action playing ball --
and no game video.

Remember when the doctor
used to be the family friend,
and didn't need insurance
or a lawyer to defend?


The way that he took care of you
or what he had to do,
because he took an oath and strived
to do the best for you.

Remember going to the store
and shopping casually,
and when you went to pay for it
you used your own money?

Nothing that you had to swipe
or punch in some amount,
and remember when the cashier person
had to really count?


The milkman used to go
from door to door,
And it was just a few pence more
than going to the store.


There was a time when mailed letters
came right to your door,
without a lot of junk mail ads
sent out by every store.

The postman knew each house by name
and knew where it was sent;
there were not loads of mail addressed
to "present occupant."

There was a time when just one glance
was all that it would take,
and you would know the kind of car,
the model and the make.


They didn't look like turtles
trying to squeeze out every mile;
they were streamlined, white walls, fins
and really had some style.

One time the music that you played
whenever you would jive,
was from a vinyl, big-holed record
called a forty-five.

The record player had a post
to keep them all in line
and then the records would drop down
and play one at a time.

Oh sure, we had our problems then,
just like we do today
and always we were striving,
trying for a better way.

Oh, the simple life we lived
still seems like so much fun,
how can you explain a game,
just kick the can and run?

this life seemed so much easier
and slower in some ways.
I love the new technology
but I sure do miss those days.

So time moves on and so do we
and nothing stays the same,
but I sure love to reminisce
and walk down memory lane.
With all today's technology
we grant that it's a plus!
But it's fun to look way back and say,
Hey look,guys, THAT WAS US!
LIFE IS SHORT. SMILE WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TEETH


 

Ok, those were the "good old days", but we love technology, our iphones and etc., etc.. Many safe places to live in America are gone and many parents tell their kids how unsafe things can be. "Watch talking to strangers". But many farms/ranch areas are safe. To live in other safe places in America, it most definitely costs.
 
As our hair goes from grey to white, we find pleasure in reminiscing.
Our phone was on the little table in the dining room, but it did not have a dial. You picked it up and told the operator what number you wanted.
I was 19 when the first B&W TV came to our house. Didn't know anyone that had a car with automatic transmission.
 
I also remember:

- going to the gas station where an attendant pumped the gas and washed the windows and called my Dad "sir" (in the Army, of course it was: don't call me "sir" I work for a living!!! if you addressed an NCO as "sir").
- the grocery store where a guy packed your groceries and carried them to your car

As for technology I am glad to be in the current time of my life in this time in history because I have had a great career in technology and I don't know where I would have fit in, in the distant past. I remember my Dad working at Lockheed in Burbank. He proudly showed us where he worked one day at a company picnic. I remember thinking that I would never want that job! There was a big building with rows and rows of metal desks that all looked the same and tiny windows up near the ceiling. It looked dreary and I would think any person working at one of those desks would feel completely insignificant. In contrast, I have had much better working conditions with big windows, respect, and interesting projects that took me to various world localities.

Tony
 
Looks like I'm living in the past. Don'tlike technology.
1 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 TV, 1 car, don't charge anything, play my records one at a time, and I still like sour cream dip.
Sour cream dip, that is delicious! I had never considered it, but, putting cream or sour cream in your tomato soup is also delicious. I tried it and it really is delicious.
 
A long distance call required all household members to search quickly for the missing party-then: "Hurry, hurry, it's loooooog distance."
Must be really important

I have a memory of when I was a little kid, probably 5 years old, while we still lived in NYC, in which I dialed some random number and it was ringing. I still remember the phone was all black with that rotary dial. I think my Mom discovered me before anyone on the other end picked up. She was really upset and I am pretty sure that the call was not to some place in NYC. This would have been around 1958.

Of course, I also remember my Mom taking me with her to Macy's in downtown NYC. I got separated from her. All I could see were people's legs unless I looked way up. Somehow, I ended up with some security guard who eventually found my mother. I didn't get into trouble for that one. Everything seemed really big in NYC, especially the subway, but then I was just a little kid. :)

Tony
 
At a place before time, I received my bother's old lace up shoes, they were much too big.
Didn't matter I had a pair of lace up shoes.
I'd clomp around house with them, stepping on the dangling laces, which I could not tie.
This huge man, called father, unfolding his tallness like a folding ladder, bent down and tied my shoes.
 
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At a place before time, I received my bother's old lace up shoes, they were much too big.
Didn't matter I had a pair of lace up shoes.
I'd clomp around house with them, stepping on the dangling laces, which I could not tie.
This huge man, called father bent down, unfolding his tallness like a folding ladder, and tied my shoes.

Your story reminds of three really exiting times when I was a little kid:

1. Learned to tie my own shoes. (I was 19 and so very proud! JUST KIDDING!!!!!)
2. I learned to tell time (this was before digital watches) and I learned before my older brother and sister did!
3. I learned to write, which I have been told kids don't do anymore. We had those cartridge pens like an ink pen without the ink well. I remember thanking my teacher! At home, we learned to print much earlier so that didn't seem nearly as big a deal.

Learning to read wasn't exciting because it seemed we always knew how to do that even before we started school. My parents were really into education and had us learning those things as soon and as early as possible. If they read us a story, we had to follow along and say the words as a parent would point them out. We didn't just passively listen. I didn't understand why other kids in kindergarten couldn't do that because it seemed so natural. I guess we were just weird. :)

Tony
 
theltrans said:
1. Learned to tie my own shoes.
2. I learned to tell time (this was before digital watches) and I learned before my older brother and sister did!

A great mysteries then, telling time-so important: that was when the big kids came home-the first and second graders

The hands of the clock were meaningless, dangling of a white face full of unknown secrets.
First you must learn the numbers, learning what they mean, soon maybe, soon was a lie.
It took forever, the big kids got bigger, talking of exciting things they knew
we remained marooned, in a quite place, left behind
 
My parents home telephone contained letters as well as numbers, and when that box with a picture tube in it first showed up and our parents were the ones that manages the channels-which were only 3 then and all channels ended at 10 pm at night. I learned cursive writing in grade school, and girls dresses hems had to be below the knee, and no girls were to wear pants to school. And then I learned what ear was the right ear to wear an earring in and not be gay. I learned I liked to read those romance novels and it was like I was going into a whole different dimension for a while.
 
Clothes had to "last".

My winter coat was always too big the first year, fit the second year and had sleeves that were too short the third year.

Hems were "let down" as we got taller and if there was a line left at the site of the old hem, my mother sewed rick-rack to cover it up. I remember lots of rick-rack.....lots.

Jeans had iron-on or sewn-on patches long before it was considered fashionable.

Clothes were "passed down" to the next kid if they were at all serviceable. Heaven help the third or fourth kid in line.
 
I also remember:

- going to the gas station where an attendant pumped the gas and washed the windows and called my Dad "sir" (in the Army, of course it was: don't call me "sir" I work for a living!!! if you addressed an NCO as "sir").
- the grocery store where a guy packed your groceries and carried them to your car

As for technology I am glad to be in the current time of my life in this time in history because I have had a great career in technology and I don't know where I would have fit in, in the distant past. I remember my Dad working at Lockheed in Burbank. He proudly showed us where he worked one day at a company picnic. I remember thinking that I would never want that job! There was a big building with rows and rows of metal desks that all looked the same and tiny windows up near the ceiling. It looked dreary and I would think any person working at one of those desks would feel completely insignificant. In contrast, I have had much better working conditions with big windows, respect, and interesting projects that took me to various world localities.

Tony
My dad worked at North American aircraft in Los Angeles. Small world 😂. I bet your dad never felt insignificant, in those days, men felt they ruled the world. Women allowed them them their fantasies. 🙄
 
My dad worked at North American aircraft in Los Angeles. Small world 😂. I bet your dad never felt insignificant, in those days, men felt they ruled the world. Women allowed them them their fantasies. 🙄

Well, not my Dad. He was intimidated by his boss. You could see the rage he had to hold in when he got home. I have no idea what happened on his job, so I can't comment on his boss and what might have happened. My Dad was a research specialist, which was a "suit and tie" job, so my guess (and I could be wrong) is that, at least in part, he wasn't cut out for office politics. I feel very fortunate that I didn't work in that kind of environment.

I would say that it is possible that MANY men felt they ruled the world, but certainly not all. Remember that men are also individuals and it can be difficult to assign a blanket statement to all of them, just as (I believe) is true with women (which is yet another reason that any blanket statement, especially by a man concerning "what women want" statement seems just as incorrect to me. Maybe I am just strange in this way, but I see people as individuals, each with their own struggles and strengths, regardless of gender. My Dad always treated my mother with respect, but it was us kids that he took it out on.

Tony
 
Clothes had to "last".

My winter coat was always too big the first year, fit the second year and had sleeves that were too short the third year.

Hems were "let down" as we got taller and if there was a line left at the site of the old hem, my mother sewed rick-rack to cover it up. I remember lots of rick-rack.....lots.

Jeans had iron-on or sewn-on patches long before it was considered fashionable.

Clothes were "passed down" to the next kid if they were at all serviceable. Heaven help the third or fourth kid in line.
What a walk down memory lane.

Hems were let down for us, too, but there were no cover-ups, we lived with the lines, and pants were patched. I remember my baby brother wearing his fair-share of patched pants.
 
Clothes had to "last".

My winter coat was always too big the first year, fit the second year and had sleeves that were too short the third year.

Hems were "let down" as we got taller and if there was a line left at the site of the old hem, my mother sewed rick-rack to cover it up. I remember lots of rick-rack.....lots.

Jeans had iron-on or sewn-on patches long before it was considered fashionable.

Clothes were "passed down" to the next kid if they were at all serviceable. Heaven help the third or fourth kid in line.
Yes, I had a girlfriend, she lived on the next block over. When she outgrew her clothes, they were passed on to me.
 


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