My How Things Have Changed

Yesterday I was sharing a memory from when I was a child with my boys. Soon after World War II, after we had come back to California, my parents decided to go to see one of their old friends. I was just nine or ten years old on the day that our family had this adventure.

We would have gone on the old car ferry as pedestrians to get to San Diego from Coronado. I remember many a time walking up the old wooden ramp to get to the top deck where the passengers could sit or walk around and see the sights during the short ride across the bay. There was the horn as the boat pulled out of the dock. We could often hear this sound from our grandparents house on third and F. There were many Navy ships in the harbor. Sometimes we would see porpoise in the bay. So many sights and sounds to recall from those old ferry rides.

When we got to San Diego we would ride on the streetcar to get to our destination. This is not as clear a memory for me, as the streetcars were gone by the fifties. We even had a streetcar that went down the middle of Orange Avenue from the ferry to the Hotel del Coronado. That is why there is the grassy island down the middle of Orange Avenue. Now there are trees and gardens in place of the old electric streetcars.

Back to our excursion to see my parents old friends. I mainly remember getting off the streetcar in the Mission Hills area and walking down a steep path towards the valley below. Our destination was an old adobe house where the friends lived. I remember having a delicious lunch which included rabbit. I think that is the only time I ever ate rabbit. I do not even recall the name of these friends. But I do remember that Mission Valley consisted of farms and a rural atmosphere. You would never have imagined the Mission Valley of today. For years I tried to figure out where the adobe house had been. At first I would try to find it when we traveled through the valley on a rare occasion. I also remembered the farm on the property next to where we visited. I remember a big old barn. We must have visited someone there too as I remember an old farmer that had lost his arm in a farming accident. I remember the pastureal scene in the valley with cows and all.

Later on I remember a highway through the valley before freeways existed. Seems to me this was one road we took to head east. I was mostly in Coronado so I would not have been in this area very many times. Sometimes I see an area of San Diego and try to remember what that area was like before freeways. I remember the first time I went to Mission Valley Shopping Center in the sixties. My mother-in-law took me on the bus to buy me a dress for Easter. She was good about doing things like that for us. She had a favorite cafeteria to go to at the shopping center so I enjoyed a rare treat for those days.

One thing that I remember clearly from my preteen years is going to Girl Scout camp in Cuyamaca. I can tell you exactly what road to take and where to turn. The camp isn't there now but the road is in the same place near Stonewall Peak. We did not have the freeway over the mountains in those days. It was the old highway which is fun to meander on now days. We enjoyed the days when we had a car to get to the mountains. Now we get rides with our son when he is in town. We also have a cousin that takes us on long rides about once a year when he is here.

So many memories from days gone by. Things may change as the years go by but God never changes. We may mess things up where there once was beauty, but there is still plenty for us to enjoy. There is still a river running through the valley with places to find birds. You will be reminded that it is a river valley when the rains come and the river rises. People may complain about not being able to get past certain roads when it rains. That is just a reminder that the river was here first.

It has been fun remembering the good old days. But these are good days too if we remember to appreciate what we have. God is so good. Let us not forget to thank Him for the beauty he has created for us to enjoy.

My How Times Have Changed

I'm remembering the first time I used a phone when I was nine or ten years old and thinking about kids today growing up with personal phones, quite the contrast. When I lived on my grandparents' farm in Washington state during World War II there was a crank phone that was rarely used, and never by me. When we arrived back in Coronado after the war my grandparents must not have had a phone since I remember them having one installed in their home. That is the first time I remember using a phone. I actually had a small problem the first time calling a friend. I got used to phones right away even though I rarely used the phone. The phone was in our grandparents' part of the house. We lived in a small apartment in the back part of their home in Coronado.

Then when I was a teenager we lived next door to our Coronado grandparents. We still used their phone as we did not have one yet. I don't think my parents got a phone until soon after I was married. Paul and I got our first phone just before he went into the Army nine months after we were married. I remember one time I had to walk a few blocks to Paul's parents in the evening when it was dark to use their phone. Paul had fallen down the basement steps and needed me to call the doctor. I did not do well walking alone after dark, but I did this for my new husband. The doctor said that if Paul was able to make it back up the steps, as he did, he should be fine. Paul may have been bruised and in pain, but he ended up being o.k. I had the walk in the dark with some big dogs barking at me and making me nervous, but I also survived the experience. I'm not such a scaredy cat now days.

Fast forward to today with so many people on their cell phones daily. We are used to seeing people walking down the street with hands free phones seeming to talk to themselves. We now know that they are not delusional as they are on their phone. When cell phones were new it seemed as if people were just showing off when they had their phones out in public, such as when they were on the bus and on their cell phone. Some people need to learn to keep their conversations private and not talk loud. Too much personal information is given out for the world to hear.

I remember in 1993 when my daughter's family moved from San Diego to Colorado with two cars they used walkie talkies to stay in touch with each other on the highway. I guess there were cell phones then but they were not widely used. It wasn't long before they all had their own cells. my grandchildren have been connected to all the latest conveniences most of their lives. Their dad works for their local cable company. He has always been up to date with all the latest gadgets, unlike our household. It was many years before we got cable and the internet. Laura always wanted to have the internet.

We rarely made long distance calls when I was young. We had to do it through the telephone operator. I never got to talk to my grandparents by phone as a child. I learned to write letters. Contrast that to today when I can pick up the phone and call my grandchildren any time I want to. When Paul was in the Army I only talked to him one time long distance. That was just before he was leaving for sixteen months in Korea. No phone calls, no internet for us all the time he was so far away. I wrote letters every day. He would get a bunch at once after much delay. The same thing at this end. I would get a bunch after much delay.

We are so spoiled with all of our conveniences now days. Josie grew up with no running water or electricity where she lived in the Philippines. She would not want to go back to that. She appreciates our modern lifestyle. I write her a letter and she picks up the phone and thanks me. I appreciate the phone call.

Cameras are another thing that have changed a lot. I mostly use the little one use cameras now so don't have immediate access to the pictures I take. When I was taking some pictures of the children I taught in Sunday school they wanted to see the pictures right then. I hated to disappoint them. I have been using my son's digital camera this week so I am progressing to the modern way. We have a little digital camera but I have not mastered it yet. Laura uses it.

It is amazing that I do anything on the computer. I was hesitant to begin, but I have a teacher in my daughter. She pushed me to learn and still needs to help me at times. I don't use it for much besides Facebook, Email and my Blog. That is enough for me. We still don't have a cell phone so I am attached to the wall when on the phone. I guess I am attached to the old ways.

The first time I remember seeing TV was when I was twelve or thirteen. The first TV my sisters and I saw was next door to my aunt and uncle in L.A. It was a little black and white screen in a larger cabinet. My parents got their first T.V. during my early teenage years. They got the biggest and best they could possibly afford. So I was used to a television in the house during my teens. We were not T.V. addicts though. We had other things to do. Most baby sitting jobs I had did not have television so there was not that distraction. I did my homework after the children were in bed. If no homework I learned to take my own reading.

Paul's family didn't have television till sometime after we were married. Paul was not used to T.V. and did not want it in our house. So we did not have it in our house. Basically our children grew up without television. They got to see special programs at their grandparents' house. They missed some historical events such as the landing on the moon. They would have enjoyed and benefited from seeing this. They benefited from reading and other enjoyable activities. When we finally got a T.V. I liked it too much. We have had times over the years with no television and then times with it. We adjusted either way. We have one now and I doubt I will be without one again. Even Paul enjoys it. Actually he may like it more than me. And he was the one that said no T.V.

Times change and we adjust to this change. One thing that never changes is our Lord. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We would not want Him to be any other way. Praise the Lord.