Today is my =
72nd birthday. Grandson asked the other day, ‘What was your =
favorite fast food when you were growing up?’
‘We didn’t =
have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him. ‘All the food was =
slow.’
‘C’mon, =
seriously. Where did you eat?’
‘It was a =
place called ‘at home,” I explained. ‘Mom cooked every day and when Dad =
got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and =
if I didn’t like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there =
until I did like it.’
By this time, =
the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious =
internal damage, so I didn’t tell him the part about how I had to have =
permission to leave the table.
But here are =
some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured =
his system could have handled it:
Some parents =
NEVER owned their own house, NEVER wore Levi’s, NEVER set foot on =
a golf course, NEVER traveled out of the country (or even outside their =
state) and NEVER had a credit card. In their later years they had =
something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at =
Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is =
no Sear or Roebuck anymore. Guess they’re both =
dead.
My parents =
never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we grew up in =
America and never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed =
around 50 pounds and only had one speed, (slow). We didn’t have a =
television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and =
white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the =
national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 =
a.m. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, =
featuring local people.
I was 12 =
before I tasted my first pizza; it was called ‘pizza pie’. When I bit =
into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung =
down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It’s still =
the best pizza I ever had.
I never had a =
telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was on the wall in the =
kitchen and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to =
listen and make sure some people you didn’t know weren’t already using =
the line. Our number in 1952 (had to memorize it for kindergarten) =
was Hi (for Highland) 2324
Pizzas were =
not delivered to our home but milk was. All newspapers were delivered by =
boys and all boys delivered newspapers six days a week. It cost 7 cents =
a paper, of which we got to keep 2 cents. Got up at 5 AM every morning. =
On Saturday, we had to collect the 42 cents from customers. My favorite =
customers were the ones who gave 50 cents and told me to keep the =
change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be =
home on collection day.
Cowboy movies =
saw the hero tip his hat to the lovely school marm, kissed his horse =
(not each other) and rode into the sunset. Can’t recall ever =
hearing a profanity or graphic violence or most anything =
offensive.
Here are some =
of my memories growing up in the post WWII ‘Baby Boom’ =
–
*Royal Crown =
Cola bottle with a stopper with a bunch of holes in it sitting on the =
ironing board
*Head lights =
dimmer switches on the floor; ignition switches on the dashboard and =
only manual transmissions
*Real ice =
boxes with ice to keep things cool
*Pant leg =
clips for bicycles without chain guards, and no self-respecting person =
wore a helmet except in battle
*Soldering =
irons and curling irons you heat on a gas burner
*Using hand =
signals for cars without turn signals; hand grabbing the toddler =
standing in the front seat since seat belts were only for stunt =
pilots
*Blackjack =
chewing gum
*Wax =
Coke-shaped tiny bottles with colored sugar water to wash down candy =
cigarettes
*Soda pop =
machines that dispensed glass bottles
*Coffee shops =
or diners with a juke box but no place to dance
*Home milk =
delivery in glass bottles with cardboard =
stoppers
*Party lines =
on the telephone and 3-minute limit on long-distance =
calls
*Newsreels =
before the movie nickel cones with your friends =
after
*P.F. Flyers =
and Butch wax
*TV/Radio dial =
that actually was a dial
*Rotary =
phones, Peashooters and Howdy Doody
*45 RPM =
records played on Hi-Fi’s
*S&H Green =
stamps when we gassed up for 23 cents a gallon
*Metal ice =
trays with levers that never worked
*Purple =
“ditto” paper (I can still smell it) with rows of =
multiplication problems
*Blue =
flashbulbs for my Brownie Starflash
*Wishing I =
could afford a Packard
*Roller skate =
keys, Cork popguns, Drive-in movies and Wash tub wringers =
My best memory is that we all were allowed to be kids, to =
dream, to invent and to play. I might be =
older than dirt today, but those memories are some of the best parts of =
my life.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] =
www.grif.net
"Jesus =
Knows Me, This I Love!"