Reminiscences

I suppose every generation comments on how much the world changes in their lifetime, but looking back, I am really amazed at how things are different than they were when I was a kid.

When I was born, my parents still had a working outhouse.  It was right next to the chicken lot.  The house that was originally on my parents' property only had jury-rigged indoor plumbing, and the new house was only a couple of years old when I came along.

The road that we lived on wasn't really paved.  It was a narrow gravel road upon which the county would spray tar every so often to give the illusion of paving.  My friends and I would ride horses on that road for miles and seldom see a car or truck belonging to a stranger.

I was in school before we had air conditioning, and while other kids got to watch three channels on television, we only got two channels until Daddy broke down and bought that UHF antenna.  It would be years later before he decided that color television was worth the money.  Of course, Daddy was one of these men who believed that watching television was a waste of time unless the news, a baseball game, or Gunsmoke was on.

As I got older, I raised calves, beans and tobacco to make spending money and money for school.  By then, horses were less important than cars and my friends and I would spend Friday nights and Saturday nights sitting on the hoods of our automobiles in front of the CO-OP.  It wasn't a very productive way to spend one's time, but it seemed like the thing to do.

Now, the road by the house is really paved, complete with double yellow lines.  City water is available, but my Mama stubbornly clings to her well.  Subdivisions and trailer parks have taken over the farm land and most houses have cable or satellite dishes.  Where everyone knew everyone else, now most who live on the road are strangers. 

Things sure have changed.  Yeah, I know, every generation says that.