Remember when you were young and less jaded? For some of us, life was simpler then. Cell phones, digital cameras and personal computers were unheard of when the picture of me posted to the right was taken. No emails, SMS text messages, blog posts or even the Internet existed in the mid 1960s.
In first grade, we wrote our writing, spelling or other written assignments on "Big Chief" writing tablets. They usually had a red cover with a picture of an Indian chief, with really "wide" writing spaces with a dotted line in the middle separating the top and bottom lines. As we developed first our printing penmanship, and then our "cursive" handwriting, that dotted line served as our guide for the proper formation of our letters.
I remember all through elementary school, our homeroom teacher or the art teacher would guide my classmates and me through making hand made greeting cards for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and maybe even Thanksgiving or Christmas. Sometimes, we even planted flowers or made other simple gifts for our mothers for one of those occasions. My mother kept a number of those things, and a few years ago decided that I should have them back. The photo above, which was seen after the film was removed from the camera and most likely taken to the local drug store (as we called them back then) to be sent off for development. With no same day photo locations, it probably took several days for the pictures to be returned to my teacher before it could be attached to the Mother's Day card in which I hand wrote the greeting.
During this highly reflective period of my life, it seemed appropriate for some of my blogs in this series of 50 to offer a look back at "how things used to be". I did notice from the picture above that the saying "Some things never change" is indeed true. Flannel shirts, jeans and "tennis shoes" (though not used to actually play a game of tennis) are still the most comfortable clothing in my wardrobe. One thing that surprised me was that the cuffs on my jeans. That is one thing I simply am unable to tolerate at this juncture in my life. Then again, I was always quite short for my age until later in high school. It would have been natural for my parents to buy jeans that were longer so that I could "grow" into them. That's just the way it was.
If you find yourself pining for simpler times, maybe you should take a look back at your own life. Pull out some old pictures and think of what was your life was life "back then". Perhaps you will find that there are some ways in which your life might be simpler again. Until next time, have a great time "remembering simpler times"!
~ DB Turnmire
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