I Remember When

1. I could buy an ice-cream cone, a soda and a bag of potato chips, all for 25 cents.

2. My Mom drove our VW for an entire week on less than $2.00 worth of gas--don't you wish that could happen today??

3. Catching fireflies was the best excuse to stay up past 10 on a warm summer evening--ahhh, I must go out tonight and relive that memory...

4. I could attend Bible Camp for 7--yes, SEVEN days and nights for $7.00--Yes, SEVEN dollars.

5. My grandparents would take us fishing and we'd cook our trout catch right along the brook in a cast iron fry pan--thick slices of Gram's homemade bread topped off our feast--Yummmm
6. Making homemade ice-cream in my Grampie's hand-crank freezer was the best birthday present!!

7. Our teacher (at the one-room schoolhouse) took the entire student body (30 students maybe??) on a hike into the forest behind the school so we could all help cut down the Christmas tree for the Christmas concert that would be attended by the entire community--I totally love this memory..

8. Elvis made his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

9. We got our first dial phone that hung on the kitchen wall--of course we never got to use it much with 10 other families on the "party line".

10. Wading in the brook in the summer kept us cool, while we made bracelets from dandelion stems--we actually wore those things until they fell off.

11. I mowed the lawn with a push mower--that is, a push mower "not" powered by gas but by my very own muscles only--I'd love to find one of those things today and push it again...

12. A week's groceries for two cost less than $10--in the early 70s that is--that included lots of baking supplies and treats..

13. My Mom used to give us home perms--until...that fatefull perm gone wrong happened in my Grade 10 year in high school. That was the END of home perms for me!

14. We made our own fun--in the summertime we waded in the brook, climbed trees (sometimes in our bare feet), had peanut-butter & Jelly sandwich picnics under a shade tree, laid down on the grass and "imagined" what shape the clouds were--in the wintertime we dug snow tunnels in the HUGE drifts, skated on our road when school was closed due to freezing rain, took our dog sliding on a snowy afternoon--those were the days my friend ♥

15. I "preached" a mighty fine sermon to my fellow "one-room-school mates" after being to a "tent revival meeting" (even had a few converts) ☺

16. We only had 2 channels to watch on TV--and were quite content with progams offered, but seldom watched in the summer months.

These are just a few memories from "back in the day" that make me smile--hope the same goes for you,

Blessings,
Barb
PS: This was written (perhaps) summer of 2009, but I wanted to finally share it with "you"

Comtemplating Life: Birth Month

As I'm writing this post (longhand) in one of my favourite corners of our home (my reading/writing nook), I'm reminded of a comment one of my sisters made a while back, that went something like this: "You must be getting old because you're saying "years ago" a lot".

I admit that at first I was (a bit) insulted (sorry sister if you're reading this) even though she said it in fun. Not many of us (women) want to admit our age once we hit the "39 and holding" mark. I remember sitting in my doctor's office on my 40th birthday, crying my eyes out and the doctor asked (gently) if my age was bothering me. "Everything is bothering me", I replied. But that's another story.

This year of 2009, in this (glorious) month of June, I will celebrate (Lord willing) living on this earth for 56 years. Not a milestone, per say, but I'm following another sister's example by observing the day of my "birth" for the entire month. Yes, I thought it was a bit of an extravagant idea at first, but I've since latched on to the concept.

Why shouldn't we look back and remember how we got to this point in our lives, this place of maturity (questionable in my case), of accepting who we are (somewhat); this moment of realizing life has its sweet times, as well as the sad?

Sometimes it does just seem like yesterday (not "years ago") that I was counting down the days and hours until the end of the school term. My birthday falling on the end of the month was always a great measuring stick for that highly anticiapted event. The long summer days of running barefoot in the clover field, pigtails swinging, were (unquestionably) the most magical of my childhood.

Wading in the stream that ran along our property, climbing trees, picking wild strawberries just because I loved to--that "movie" playing in my mind brings joy mixed with a few tears, and lots of sweet sighs...ahhh..

Then, I fast forward to present day. Ouch!! We are bombarded with economical downturn, images of war and poverty and crime and.......Wait a minute...what happened to running barefoot in the sweet summer breezes? Have we lost the "innocence of life" and replaced it with modern technology? My answer is, "Only if we want to".

No, we can't make the tragedies of this crazy and wild world disappear. But we can choose to appreciate where we've been, who we've become, who and how we love and cherish. It's not a matter of a click of the mouse, it's a "matter of the heart"!

After almost 56 years to reflect upon, I'm choosing to honour my "birth" day by celebrating life! And not just for the month of June, but from henseforth. I'm going to hug a little more, treasure the tender moments a little more; laugh, cry and shout a LOT MORE!! I'm going to sing, jump, skip, play, soak in--a WHOLE LOT MORE!!

And...I'm going to spread it around. So, don't be surprised if I call sometime, out of the blue, and ask, "Would you like to come over for tea in the garden?". Then we'll dance on the lawn, laughing like children, because 'we can'.

I hope you celebrate your "birth" day (and month) with those you love and cherish, this year and forever!!

Blessings to you and "yours", Barb