My grandfather passed away this morning! He was 94 and it was time. My grandmother died almost five years ago. I have such good memories. They lived on a farm in north Louisiana, about two hours from where we lived and I loved spending time with them. For me, those were the “good ole days”. They didn’t have indoor plumbing til I was in high school, they didn’t have a phone, they had one old black and white TV with an antenna that received one channel on a good weather day. Hopefully Saturday night wasn’t cloudy so they could pick up Lawrence Welk! They had cows, chickens, pigs, a humongous garden. They lived on a dirt road with no air conditioning so the windows were open 10 months out of the year. Louisiana with no air conditioning can be pretty miserable. Their vehicles were stick shift with no air conditioning and no radio. They went to bed early and were up before daylight.
Sounds like torture, huh? Why did I love those times and why would I go back to them? There were no computers, no video games, kids didn’t run the roads all day. Time was spent working hard, socializing with the family and friends. Neighbors were far away but people stayed in the same place forever and they were true friends . . not just passing acquaintances. We have so many distractions and I feel we’re missing out on way more than we’re gaining with our “modern conveniences”.
They ate real food . . at home, 3 meals a day. They NEVER went out to eat. Most of the food had been grown on their farm and it was GOOD! Fresh chicken, fresh veggies, the milk fresh out of the cow was pretty bad though!
Sometimes on Saturday afternoon, we would ride over the Sabine River into Texas (about a 10 mile ride I think but it seemed much farther because it was a trip that was rarely taken) and go to Ivy Morris’ grocery store to get ice cream.
On Tuesdays, they ALWAYS went to town because it was double U. S. Green Stamp day at the grocery store.
Those days are gone forever . . never to be known again by our offspring.
Pop and Nannie, I loved you dearly. Thanks for the memories!
Judy