Reflecting on the Past – A Different Place and Time

The rain dribbles from the sky in a rhythmic fashion. I love lying in bed listening to its beat. In the distance I can also hear the roar of the creek as it flows with intention to the lake. Water, the source of all life, can seldom be contained.

As I listen, I contemplate the start of this New Year. Thus far it doesn’t seem all that different. As a child, the world seemed safe. Was that because it truly was or did our parent’s shield us from the fear and unrest of the world?

In the 60s & 70s when I was growing up, there surely was unrest with Cuba, race issues, war and Watergate. Perhaps I was just an unaware child. Or perhaps since it didn’t affect me personally, it blew right past me. I am not quite sure, but life definitely seemed simpler then.

As with most New Years, I would typically be thinking of things I want to improve or change in my life. Instead, I am lost in the past thinking of all the advancements in my sixty-five years of life.

Computers and the internet are the most obvious advancements. Smart TVs, streaming shows, and automatic recordings seem second nature now. When I would want to record a TV show — eventually — it was with a VHS tape and that wasn’t until the late 70s. The moto for the VHS tape was: Be Kind Please Rewind!

Phones were stationary and the distance you could wander around with them was limited by the length of their curly cord. Now you can put them in your pocket and hop on an airplane!

We had cars, of course, but certainly not electric cars you plugged into the wall to charge.

Frozen dinners consisted of a metal tray with separate compartments that held a protein, carb and veggie. Turkey dinner with gravy was my favorite. This was the staple in our house when my parents were going out for the night. Oh, and they had to be heated in a conventional oven. Microwave ovens didn’t find their way to households till the late 70s.

I remember trips to my grandparent’s basement to shovel coal into Baba’s furnace to heat her three-flat. Baba was extra special to us and she was way ahead of her time in that when we would come for a visit, she’d have little glasses of coffee with lots (and I mean lots) of milk waiting on the hot stove for us. I have since realized she was serving us little lattes!!!

Encyclopedias — lots and lots of volumes of encyclopedias — were our reference materials for school reports. No Googling or Wikipedia. And definitely no ChatGPT at our fingertips.

Board games or a deck of cards helped us pass the time playing. We sat side by side, looked each other in the eye, and we laughed and moaned face to face. Nothing was digital. The closest we got to a video game was in the 70s with the rudimentary game Pong.

One-speed bicycles were hip, especially if you had a banana seat which my brother Tim had on his bike. Ten speeds came later and long before all the specialty bikes and e-bikes of today. I remember getting my very first brand new bike (no more hand-me-downs) for my 13th birthday. I can still see it poised in the living room with a bow on it waiting for me when I came home from school.

TV shows ran one show a week. If you missed a movie at the movie theater, you missed it. Music was listened to on the radio or a turntable. Eventually Walkman’s made their debut where you could pop in a cassette tape and listen to your favorite songs on the go.

Cameras consisted of 35 mm film. One definitely had to be selective as to when and what to photograph because it cost good money to develop a roll of film. No instant gratification there, well unless you had a polaroid instamatic.

To play with a friend you either called them on the phone or knocked on their door — no texting!

News took time and was not readily available 24/7. Given the repetitive nature of news today, I’m thinking waiting for a news cycle wasn’t so bad.

Even as I originally wrote this Blog pen to paper, I’m feeling how even simpler that was.

Yes, as I am reflecting on the past, it was definitely a different place and time.

I still believe not all progress is good progress. I am grateful for growing up when I did so I could learn patience, anticipation, appreciation and the value of time.

How about you? What do you reflect on from your youth?

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