A little background about the times I'm writing about. I was a teenager...coming of age...in the 1950's. Of all the decades I've lived through since then, I'm glad the 50's was my decade! Times were so much easier...and well, just gentle, then. We never locked our doors...even when we left, much less when we were at home. We never lost our car keys because they were always in the ignition sitting in the driveway...or on the street. Gas was about twenty cents a gallon. My first new car cost less than $2,000. I paid it off at $80 a month for two years. Full insurance coverage on it was $45 a year. I spent between $5 and $10 a week for groceries for three of us. And got two big bags crammed full!
You could buy a three bedrom, one and half bath, ranch home for $15,000. If it was brick, you'd pay $18,000. At that time, in the real estate business, to qualify for a house, we figured one-fourth of your income for payment, taxes and insurance. Few people could buy a house if their monthly debts were more than a car payment. People working at the automobile factories only made about $2.00 hourly.
When I was living with Avanelle, I was making...take home...about $48 a week...she brought home, from Ford Motor Co. about $20 more than I did. I often thought about giving up the office job and going to work in the factories...but my uncles threw a fit. Darvin and Lee were so protective of me....they said it was no place I should be working. But then, Avanelle and Jean, Uncle Speed's wife...both worked there and how bad could it have been?
Television sets were only black and white...and little screens in a big box. 19" was a big screen...then they came out with 21"....then they came out with 19" portables...but still only in black and white. Microwaves were unheard of until the mid 60's. A woman selling real estate in our office got one. Everybody in the office had to go see it...and drink a cup of coffee reheated in the microwave and eat a rubber hot dog cooked in it.
Back to cars. They were huge. Three people could fit easily in the front seat...and four adults in the back seat...or a whole buncha kids. I've taken twelve of us to the drive-in movie in my car. Me and Phyllis in the front seat...with a couple of kids between us...and a crammed back seat. A typical night at the drive-in was me, Phyllis, our three kids, her three younger sisters, and Avanelles two girls and sometimes her son. The drive-in was cheap entertainment. It might cost me and Phyllis $1.o0 each...and the kids were free. We always popped popcorn at home and took it as well as our own pop. And we always had to go an hour before the movie started so the kids could play on the playground equipment just in front of the screen. We also took blankets...because it would get so hot inside the car, we'd all end up sitting on blankets beside the car. The downside to cars back then was they didn't last very long. About 40,000 miles they started falling apart...and were junk by 80,000 miles. Men, like my Dad, learned to do their own repairs.
We didn't have a McDonalds or Burger King...or Wendys. We did have several drive-in restaurants...Roy's Squeeze-in...Big Boy...and a hot dog stand....and a few others. When the kids...teens...went "cruising" they drove through all the drive-ins. Over and over. Last time I was in Ypsi, Roy's Squeeze-in was still there...but a take-out only...and the hot dog stand was still there, too. Tammy and Buddy loved the hot dog stand. I tried to save enough money to take them there a couple times a month. I could get each of us a hot dog and root beer for $1.00. Tammy and Buddy got a kick out of watching the guys....and the carhops there were boys...run. They didn't walk to the cars. They ran ..to take your order...ran back to turn it in...then ran back to the car with your food...and ran again to pick up your tray when you finished.
In the homes, most of us didn't have carpeting. All the floors were tile or linoleum. I always rented furnished apartments. The first thing I'd do when I moved in was go to the dime store and buy plastic curtains for all the windows and an oil-cloth for the table.
Once a week the kids and I would go to the laundromat...except when we lived with Avanelle and had a wringer washing machine. I preferred the laundromat, though....didn't have to hang clothes outside on the line when it was cold...or in the house when it rained. Everything had to be ironed. We didn't have permanent press clothes until probably the late 60's. For some reason, I usually always went to the laundromat on Thursday after work. Usually we'd go to Aunt Susie's for supper and stop at the laundromat on the way home. Then on Saturday, after the weekly cleaning...sweeping, mopping, dusting, polishing furniture...I'd iron. Tammy's dresses, Buddy's pants and shirts...my clothes for work. Well...okay....that was always the plan. It seldom worked out that way, though. By the time I'd get the cleaning done, we were ready to go visiting...Granny, one of the uncles...Avanelles, Phyllis....and various friends. Subsequently, I always had an ironing board set up somewhere...in the living room or in the kitchen...then every night I'd have to iron our clothes for the next day.
When I started this I thought I'd write about the fun I had with my kids...but I'm finding I can't remember specific incidents. Oh I can remember the trips to the zoo, to the amusement parks...to the carnivals...to the lakes...to the drive-ins...but the day to day living is harder to recall. I remember us singing a lot to the radio....at the top of our lungs. I remember us laughing a lot. I remember crawling around on the floor and playing horsie...and hide and go seek. For some reason, Tammy always thought I'd never find her under the bed....and Buddy was easy to find...just follow the giggles.
Although my kids were the most important part of my life...I still had other parts. My job took a biggest part of my time. I didn't really date very often, but I loved to dance. I had some girlfriends with whom I'd go out at least once a week...either Friday or Saturday nights. I'd get a baby-sitter...usually one of my cousins...and after the kids were asleep, I'd pick up one or more of my friends and we'd hit a local bar that had a band and a dance floor. Sometimes I had to scrape...even cash in pop bottles...to get enough money to buy one beer. But one was enough. I seldom sat down...dancing every dance all night. The bar I went to most, and was most comfortable at, my uncle Calvin was the bartender. I never had to worry about unwanted attention or advances from men. They all soon learned I was there only for the dancing...and heaven help one who disrespected me. Calvin kept an eagle eye on me all night. In fact, I was at the bar with Calvin and his wife, Jan, the night I first saw Joe...in 1965...across a crowded dance floor. I didn't meet him that night...but we made a lot of eye contact...enough that the next day he was asking everybody he saw who I was...and finagled an introduction, finally, through a mutual friend.
to be continued.
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