Penny For Your Thoughts, By: Nancy Whitaker
I grew up many years ago and oh how things have changed. We lived in the country, out in the boonies and the most entertainment we ever had was going to church and Sunday dinners after church.
Something we had that my kids would not know about is a crank telephone and we knew everyone’s ring. When the phones rang everyone would pick up the receiver and quietly listen in. Found out a lot of news that way. Our ring was 2 longs and a short. I still remember that detail.
We did have a radio and would listen to the Grand Old Opry on Sat night following our baths we took once a werk in a big round tub of hot water.
My good church and school clothes were clean but either a hand me down or homemade. (Also in the winter I had a snow suit which I hated. It had this heavy wool coat and a pair of heavy wooly pants. When we went to school or church we took our good clothes off as soon as we got home and put on our play clothes. Or if it was night when we got home from church we put on our pretty homemade nighties.
Eating out at a restaurant was every now and then sometimes after church. We had no fast food restaurants, but eating a popsicle made of frozen koolaid was a treat on a hot day.
We did have Penny candy and sometimes, maybe once a month, we got to go to town to look around. And oh what fun!
At that time our uptown was full of stores, bright lights, and oh I loved the 5 and 10 cents stores. If I saved up, 25 cents might buy me a few chocolate drops or a bag of warm peanuts.
When I was home, I liked to read and play with paper dolls either cut or punched out from a book. I built houses for them made of old boxes or pieces of paper. I loved dressing them and they all had names.
In the summer I remember lying in a clover field, looking up at the fluffy white clouds and wondering how the sky was going to hold all the people who were going to go to Heaven.
We all ate dinner at the table. Grandma cooked wonderful meals of country fried ham, mashed potatoes, red eye gravy and fresh green beans. We always prayed before each meal sometimes holding hands as we thanked God for our food.
When we got company or my cousins came over, we would play games like Statute, Mother May I? and a game called Tennessee. (That game was a dandy one)
Another game we played was Red Rover. I always got called over because I was little and could never steal a person from the other team.
There was no bottled water; we drank from a pump and a well which had an old tin cup hanging from it. Yes, we all drank from the same cup and never heard tell of Covid. We ran around in the yard until dark and came in when mom hollered for us.
When it was bed time we slept in a big bedroom which was hot in the summer and sooo cold in the winter. Sometimes snow would come in around the windows and you could feel and hear the wind blowing the curtains. But it was toasty warm under those heavy comforters.
When I got to about age 14, I became interested in Elvis and the old time rock and roll. I got a little transistor radio and went upstairs to listen to a great radio station that played all the hits. The DJ’s name was Paul Hershey.
My family frowned on dancing and one day I was stepping one off and got too close to a heat register which went through the upstairs floor and through the downstairs ceilings.
As I danced, stomping my feet, I felt the register give way and my legs and feet went through the ceiling downstairs. I was just hanging there.
Oh my! Grandma’s doctor was there and I was in trouble. Grandma said, “Nancy Sue were you dancing to that old rock and roll stuff?”
I said, “Oh no, Grandma I was just exercising.”
So many things we did not have, but we appreciated everything.
My own kids never used a crank telephone, took a bath in a metal tub or ever knew what it was like to not have a TV.
But as we all think of our younger days, we tend to think they were “the good old days” I think they were, because we were young and able to run, jump, and play. We did not have access to all the news like now and life just seemed simpler.
What did you think of life during your growing up days? Did you have well water, cold bedrooms, and enjoy penny candy? Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for your Thoughts.
