Got Memories

You have probably heard the Got Milk ads. We enjoy a cold glass of milk, or milk on our cereal each morning. Our children grew up enjoying their milk. We had a milkman when the children were little, when we lived in Coronado. The milk came in glass quart bottles. We would even leave the back door unlocked for our milkman to come in and put the milk in the refrigerator. Speaking of refrigerator, my husband still calls it the ice box. Some of us had old fashioned ice boxes when we were growing up. I remember some people had ice men to bring big blocks of ice to keep their food cold.

Other memories include old fashioned wringer washing machines used by my grandmothers and mother when I was little. They would wash the clothes in the tub of the machine and then have to put the clothes through the wringer which was part of the machine. Then they would rinse the clothes and put them through the wringer again.

 When I was a young mother I had a spin dry washing machine. It was old, but affordable as my father-in-law got it for me. I would wash the clothes in the large tub of the washer and then put them in a smaller section to spin them before I could rinse them. After they were rinsed I put them back in the spinner again to ready them for hanging on the clothes line. I still like hanging clothes on the line to dry. I only had a clothes dryer for one short period of time. It was nice when it rained to still be able to do laundry. I manage quite nicely without this modern convenience on sunny days. I do have a good washing machine.

When I was little there was no television. Nobody had television then. I was probably thirteen before I saw T.V. Or maybe I was twelve. We first saw television in L.A. at the neighbor of my uncle. The screen was very little and the cabinet was large. It wasn't long before my family got a T.V. My parents got a nice sized one for the day. They weren't rich but managed to always have a television after this. They were hard working house painters and needed this one thing to relax with after a busy day on the job.

Paul's family did not get a television till some time after we got married so Paul wasn't used to a T.V. in the house. Therefore this was not something he wanted to have in our home. So our children did not grow up with T.V. either. They would go to visit their grandparents to see special programs. They mostly seemed to do ok with this set up. One of the children says that he felt he missed certain events in history with no television. Other kids would be talking about things he did not know about. He would have wanted to see man landing on the moon and such historical events as that. I did not realize how much they missed as I read the paper for news.

We eventually got a second hand T.V. from a friend, but that did not last too long. I was sort of a T.V. addict when I had one to watch. We finally got a new little portable T.V. which was nice to have. Later when it no longer worked we went another period of years without television. We enjoyed other forms of entertainment then. We played board games and I was turned on to Scrabble at that time. Now I would not want to be without T.V. We don't go to the movies or other places of entertainment so T.V. is what I have to enjoy. I went without television enough years.

One good thing about no television is that you read more. My children are readers. When they were young and we got an encyclopedia set the children used to read it for enjoyment. I would not have done this as a child. I only used encyclopedias for school projects. My kids found pictures of old sailing ships that at least one of them tried to draw. These books drew them in, as did other sets of books we had. I did not have books as a child. They were more at home with books than I had been in earlier years.

I had intended to write "Got Pets" when I started this post. That will be saved for another day. I changed to "Got Memories" as that is how this worked out. We have a lot of memories if we live long enough. This will be the year I turn 75, in December. I have a lot to pull out of the album of my mind. I have photo albums full of memories too.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8


image credits: ellenm; bobnrenee; daveynin; calliope