FIFTY YEARS

In the fifty years since my daughter was born...there have been so many changes in the world...things we have now, I never even imagined back then.

If you were lucky and rich enough to own a TV....it was in black and white...on a a tiny screen. The biggest screens were 19 inches. In 1968 I got my first color TV...a floor model with a 21 inch screen.

Telephones....if you lived in the country you probably had a "party-line"....two or more families on the same line...and someone was always talking when you wanted to use the telephone.

Washing machines....if you had the latest and newest and best, you had a Maytag wringer washer. The dryer was lines strung in the back yard. Or in bad weather, in the house.

The only instant food was instant mashed potatoes that had the consistency of glue and tasted like it too. Of course, you could buy canned vegetables and fruits....but meal preparation ...breakfast, dinner and supper....took up several hours of my day. I thanked God for Campbell's soups and Pork n beans! And there were no microwave ovens. I got my first one in Bremen in 1976.

There were no disposable diapers! All diapers were cloth...Birdseye was the best. We had a choice of square or rectangle ones. And there was a diaper pail in the bathroom where they were put to soak after dumping the contents into the toilet, until washday, by which time they were pretty ripe and smelly! And babies wet a lot...so, without rubber pants, I could go through a dozen diapers in a day! Tammy was allergic to the rubber so, every time we picked her up, she had to be changed.

Nobody locked their doors...or their cars. You could fill your gas tank...18 to 20 gallons...for less than $5. Mark was in the Air Force and brought home $80 a month plus my allotment of $72...went up to $92 after Buddy was born. We didn't own a car until after Buddy was born and I went to work full time....making $40 a week. My budget was....$80 rent, $60 food, $10 laundromat. When Buddy was six months old, I went to work full time, making $40 a week and we felt rich! Even after paying $15 a week for a baby-sitter! We bought a used car and got a telephone and could afford to go to a movie once in a while.

It just seems that life was simpler then. Kids could play outside and we didn't have to watch them every minute. I do appreciate all the conveniences we enjoy today, but I find myself thinking more and more about how simple life was back then...and wish I could have realized it and taken the time to enjoy it more instead of worrying about what we didn't have and how we we could get it.