What Your Grandmother Knew…

[jerry]

things-your-grandmother-knew

by Ken Jorgustin
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandmother replied,


Well, let me think a minute, I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.

There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

Man had not yet invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, or clothes dryers.

Clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man hadn’t yet walked on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first, and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, “Sir.”

And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, “Sir.”

We were before dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends -not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CD’s, smartphones, or video games.

We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President’s speeches on our radios.

The term ‘making out’ referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.

And if you didn’t want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.

You could buy a new Ford Coupe for around $700, but who could afford one?

Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, “grass” was mowed, “coke” was a cold drink, “pot” was something your mother cooked in and “rock music” was your grandmother’s lullaby. “Hardware” was found in a hardware store and “software” wasn’t even a word.

No wonder people call us “old and confused” and say there’s a generation gap.




My, how the world has changed…

Grandparents and the elderly have a very different view of our world than today’s young. Many valuable and common sensible things can be learned from them. Your grandparents may also have good advice of their experiences and lessons learned from the Great Depression.

What are some of your memories of lessons learned or stories told?

[ghostrider]

my memories are , being outside when the sun was up , inside when the sun went down ... we walked everywhere we went , no one had a phone , whatever we did we all did it together ... five dollars would last all weekend , you could go to the drive in movies , or bowling , or whatever and come home with money left over ... No one ever spoke disrespectful to an adult , everyone was a spy for your mom , the police would send you home instead of jail ... if you lived in the neighborhood you played baseball on Saturday morning at the corner , everyone went home for dinner when the street light came on , and you don't go back outside after dinner , you get an hour then it's bedtime no exceptions , and eight track tapes were awesome , playing your tunes over and over ... everyone loved Elvis , it was never blazing hot outside , and rain so rare it was fun to be out in it , and when you could afford a bike , playing cards and clothes pins let you be cool attaching them to the spokes making your bike sound like a real motorcycle ...

[Frank V]

Posted by jerry (here)
[...]

Grandparents and the elderly have a very different view of our world than today’s young. Many valuable and common sensible things can be learned from them. Your grandparents may also have good advice of their experiences and lessons learned from the Great Depression.

What are some of your memories of lessons learned or stories told?

I'll just say it with a song - one which still manages to move me to tears.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=uGDA0Hecw1k

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got

You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defense

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts

So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up, and don't give in
You may just be O.K.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye

[seeker/reader]

My grandmother knew the Great Depression.

[grannyfranny100]

Kindness and politeness counted until the coming of the me - me generation.

[Snowflower]

I am a grandmother. Making out meant kissing, heavy petting, upper body touching. My mother had a clothes dryer. We got a TV when I was 5. I had a polio shot that same year. One stamp cost a nickel when I was a first grader.

I think the "walk down memory lane" is overdoing the smarminess.

[ghostrider]

I am a grandfather , we had black and white TV with three channels , the telephone was a party line , people used green stamps to buy food ... I miss the eight track tape days , drive in's where the staff wore roller skates , and swimming at the lake in the summer ... gas was 45 cents a gallon ...

[gripreaper]

[jerry]

As a kid earning extra cash meant pulling groceries home for folks in my wagon. In the summer I sold a whole baskets of homegrown tomatoes for a buck and I got half. I shoe shined going bar to bar in the neighborhood, and lemonade stands were legal.

[seehas]

My grandmother told me that see saw flying saucers in times of second world war in germany and i belive her.

[Frank V]

Posted by seehas (here)
My grandmother told me that see saw flying saucers in times of second world war in germany and i belive her.

When my brother and I were still very young boys, my grandmother also used to tell us about the foo fighters, albeit that she didn't call them that. They said that they were "balls of light" in the sky and that they belonged to the Germans. I never knew what to think about that - I thought that maybe they could have been mere reflections onto the clouds from the anti-aircraft search lights - until I heard about the foo fighters that were reported by the allied pilots and the esoteric experiments the Nazis conducted with anti-gravity, et al.

World War II was a time when the unthinkable aspects of reality were brought to the public attention - reports and footage from Dachau, Auschwitz, et al - so I guess people were more open-minded about other things as well back then.

[Jean-Marie]

Posted by ghostrider (here)
my memories are , being outside when the sun was up , inside when the sun went down ... we walked everywhere we went , no one had a phone , whatever we did we all did it together ... five dollars would last all weekend , you could go to the drive in movies , or bowling , or whatever and come home with money left over ... No one ever spoke disrespectful to an adult , everyone was a spy for your mom , the police would send you home instead of jail ... if you lived in the neighborhood you played baseball on Saturday morning at the corner , everyone went home for dinner when the street light came on , and you don't go back outside after dinner , you get an hour then it's bedtime no exceptions , and eight track tapes were awesome , playing your tunes over and over ... everyone loved Elvis , it was never blazing hot outside , and rain so rare it was fun to be out in it , and when you could afford a bike , playing cards and clothes pins let you be cool attaching them to the spokes making your bike sound like a real motorcycle ...

Ghostrider, I am only 50 (born after Kennedy was killed) and have the memories of playing Softball at the corner, playing kick the can, etc.. I attached clothes pins and playing cards to my bike spokes. The best part that I remember is that all kids of all ages came to the corner to play. The older kids looked out for the younger ones. Bullying didn't really exist. The older kids were our mentors....

I was from a family of eight children and we thought we were an average sized family. We had a few families at the church that had 15, and 18 kids.

-jean-marie

[Peace of Mind]

Wonder what the world will be like when today's kids become old enough to be grandparents...

Peace

[genevieve]

My sister (8) and I (5) went from house to house until dark to ask for store coupons to give to our school so they could be exchanged for money.

My friend and I picked wildflowers (weeds) and sold "bouquets," house to house, for a nickel.

My sister and I poled ourselves on a pallet around a mini-swamp and explored everywhere until it was time for dinner.

We lived on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, and rode the trolley into downtown. And once downtown we rode the electric street car.

I remember being shocked when Woolworth's started charging more than a dime for items.

When I was 9, in Montana my family and I would delight in the Burma Shave signs along the highway as we traveled in the countryside for target practice with our .22 rifles. When it was too cold to stand out in the wind, we sheltered in a rock hut built in the previous century by sheepherders.

I have some lovely memories of the "old days." I wonder what today's kids will remember fondly.

Peace Love Joy & Harmony,
genevieve

[ghostrider]

Posted by Jean-Marie (here)

Posted by ghostrider (here)
my memories are , being outside when the sun was up , inside when the sun went down ... we walked everywhere we went , no one had a phone , whatever we did we all did it together ... five dollars would last all weekend , you could go to the drive in movies , or bowling , or whatever and come home with money left over ... No one ever spoke disrespectful to an adult , everyone was a spy for your mom , the police would send you home instead of jail ... if you lived in the neighborhood you played baseball on Saturday morning at the corner , everyone went home for dinner when the street light came on , and you don't go back outside after dinner , you get an hour then it's bedtime no exceptions , and eight track tapes were awesome , playing your tunes over and over ... everyone loved Elvis , it was never blazing hot outside , and rain so rare it was fun to be out in it , and when you could afford a bike , playing cards and clothes pins let you be cool attaching them to the spokes making your bike sound like a real motorcycle ...

Ghostrider, I am only 50 (born after Kennedy was killed) and have the memories of playing Softball at the corner, playing kick the can, etc.. I attached clothes pins and playing cards to my bike spokes. The best part that I remember is that all kids of all ages came to the corner to play. The older kids looked out for the younger ones. Bullying didn't really exist. The older kids were our mentors....

I was from a family of eight children and we thought we were an average sized family. We had a few families at the church that had 15, and 18 kids.

-jean-marie

Uncle GR is 49 , but seems like I'm 100 , like I've been around forever and ever ...

[gripreaper]

[Violet]

In Belgium we had these chewing gum machines with all colours of chewing gum on street corners. You could get a small one for 1 frank (1 EUR = ca. 40 franks) and 5 franks for a big one (1 EUR = ca. 40 franks). I stopped following the annual bread price raises by 2 or more franks every time...Same for public transport tickets. They have quadrupled during my lifetime.

In the streets you could smell supper round noon coming from the houses as well fresh laundry.

I miss the horses and their clicking hoofs on the clinckers. The milkman. Children's chalk drawings on every pavement.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Oh, and walking. It was very normal to walk long distances back then, I have the impression.

[grannyfranny100]

"Wonder what the world will be like when today's kids become old enough to be grandparents..."
• Earth will be gone
• These grandkids will be too dumbed down to even form such a question
• They will wonder why their grandparents procreated before resolving this problem
• They will cry because they aren't psychopathic and thus normal.
• They wouldn't understand words like grandparents or parents since they were reared by the state.
• The state will turn off their chip and they will die since they did not adjust to the hive mind
Take your pick.

[Violet]

Not sure I believe that. There are enough bright and beautifully vibrant in their hearts children to prevent that.

I pick to believe in the children as the past generations believed in us. And even then, they used the say "oh, the younger generation is lost and such and such", but I will always remember those that supported and believed in what we children we're saying and suggesting.

They did not dismiss us or our potential.