A couple of years ago, Kelly gave Claire and myself books for Christmas. The weren’t books to read — they were books to write… They were entitled, “My Dad” and “My Mom.” Each page posed a question about yourself and your past… the idea being that when filled out, it would be like a mini history of your life.
It was a great idea and of course we haven’t written in either book. But wait, there’s a good reason. While the idea is terrific, each page is way too small to properly address the questions — and — the questions are generic, they don’t specifically apply to us.
We discussed this with Kelly and she agreed and intended to provide a more specific set of questions in a larger format. That hasn’t happened yet, either.
So — I thought I’d take a day or two to jot down some things that might (or might not) be of interest to Kelly and David and maybe even some day to Emily and Locke.
In no particular order, here’s some things I remember that made growing up almost 80 years ago different than today — not saying it was better, or worse — just different.
My parents never wore jeans, or “Levis” as I remember them being called — I’m sure they didn’t even own a pair. In fact I think I was probably in Jr. High before I got my first pair. They were dark blue and had bight orange stitches on all the seams. They also had shiny rivets on the pockets.
I don’t think my Dad ever owned a credit card… maybe my mom did in the later years, I’m not sure. The first credit card I owned was for gas. I got that when I was in my 20s.
We didn’t have a television set in our house until I was about 8 or 9 years old. There were no television stations in the state of Oklahoma until I was 8 or 9 years old. We had the first TV not only in Maysville but also the surrounding towns. It was very big with a very small screen — and, of course, black and white.
I was probably 21 or 22 years old before I tasted my first pizza. It was delivered in a truck — the truck was the whole pizza restaurant, they had an oven and counter and a window in the side where you paid for, and got your pizza. When you called, they came to your house (in my case it was where I worked) stopped at the curb and cooked your pizza — certainly couldn’t say it wasn’t fresh. I think you could get cheese and maybe pepperoni… I don’t remember any of the other “stuff.”
Speaking of food, there wasn’t any “fast food” when I was growing up. We ate at home. If it was a special occasion, we would go to a restaurant, except we called it a cafe. They just served food — like you’d get at home. There was no Italian, Mexican, French, etc. establishments. They just served food. I guess the first “fast food” place I can remember was Dairy Queen. Most everyone just went there for ice cream, but I think you could get a hot dog and maybe even a hamburger. You couldn’t go in though — you had to walk up to the window and order. Most people went back to their cars to eat.
And if you happened to want an alcoholic drink with your meal — forget it! When I was growing up, Oklahoma was a dry state. You couldn’t buy wine or any distilled beverage. It was possible to buy beer, but it was “3.2 beer,” only 3% alcohol content. Of course you couldn’t buy any beer on Sunday. In fact you couldn’t buy much of anything on Sunday… almost all the stores were closed.
We didn’t have “little league” anything. There were no organized sports for kids. If you wanted to play baseball or football or basketball, you found a bunch of kids and just played, It was only when you went to high school that organized sports were available. And soccer — never heard of it when I was young and when I did hear about it, it was a “girls” sport.
Outdoor play consisted of building forts, sliding down hills on pieces of cardboard and if we were lucky enough t ever get any snow, we had snowball fights and tried to build snowmen. We didn’t have skate boards, roller blades, or trail bikes or ATVs… I had a bicycle and I remember my granddad built me a wagon. I think I had pair of roller skates (with a key, not built onto shoes) but if you wanted to go roller skating, you went to a “roller rink.”
I never had a telephone, or radio, in my room. We had a telephone in the “hall” and a radio in the living room. The first phone I remember didn’t have any kind of dial — when you picked it up, the operator already knew who you were and would usually call you by name and ask who you wanted to talk to. Then she would connect you. Almost like a human Siri….
There was no kindergarten in Maysville — when you got to be six year old, you went to the first grade. And if your grades were good enough (we actually got grades, no S’s or U’s) at the end of the year, you were promoted to second grade… and so on. If you didn’t make good grades, you repeated that grade the following year — no one worried that someone that had to repeat a grade would be “ruined for life.” We actually had to do something to receive an award….
Of course we had no computers, or hand-held calculators. We had to memorize the multiplication or “times tables.” We were required to solve math problems using nothing but a pencil and paper!!
When I was young I had a job as a paperboy. Just about all newspapers were delivered by boys (usually via bicycle) and most boys at one time or another, delivered newspapers. I delivered The Daily Oklahoman and I got to keep a few cents for every paper I delivered…but I had to collect the money from the customers on a weekly basis (I think.)
When you went to the movies, you never saw any of the cowboys, like the Lone Ranger or Gene Autry, actually kill anyone — they would just shoot the gun out of the bad guys hand. No blood and guts.
When we got sick, often the doctor would come to your house!! I’m not making this up….
If by any chance either one of my kids are reading this, they’re laughing like crazy. I think you have to have “been there,” to appreciate it. Since this post is getting pretty long, I’ll continue it later. Growing up today ain’t what it used to be….
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