Haibun Monday, and our suggested
topic is Change. Oh Mercy, how could
I choose, let me count the ways! There’s not
enough paper for me to cover them all. What
a fun topic!
Submitted to dVerse
October 29, 2018
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I scarcely know how to begin to recount the changes
I’ve seen! I remember when water came from a pump
at the well. Our vintage Chevy was “straight stick” and
clutch. A call from nature required a walk to the “outhouse”.
The phone hung on the wall, and it was necessary to crank
the ring of neighbors on our line, or “Central” to connect
us to other lines. Our “ring” was a long and two shorts,
my aunt’s a short and two longs, and so on. The only
things that flew over our house were migrating birds.
Service station attendants cleaned the windshield and
pumped the fuel for our car. Our home was heated with
coal stoves, mother’s cook stove was fueled by corn cobs.
No one locked their doors. You could take a man at his word.
There was no crime, My life has been a quantum leap to air
travel, credit cards, computer, iPhone, television, surveillance
cameras, automation and electric scooters. It seems there’s
an “app” for everything, and Amazon can deliver it all.
My venerable friends and card-playing buddies have mastered
changes along with me. Recently we were playing cards
when we heard music. Each in turn, we put down our cards
and reached for our purses and cell phones, but none were ringing.
We sat in puzzlement … until we realized it was the Good Humor
Man, the little ice cream truck that cruised the neighborhoods
playing happy little tunes to attract the children to buy his ice cream!
Change, you say? We’ve certainly seen a few!
*************
from summer to fall
from an outhouse to a spa
changes are welcome
Nothing like entering the winter of our lives to thjrow spotlights on the dramatic changes we have experienced. My grandfather, 1898-1989, saw one of the first automobiles, the first planes, the atomic age, a landing a man on the moon.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delight this was to read! And the story about hearing the music--the Good Humor Man--made me laugh. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI miss the ice cream truck. Some of these changes though I find have not changed, only our perceptions. A goid poem
ReplyDeleteI have seen changes in my lifetime - but it always amaze me how my parents managed such significant transition in their lifetime. I feel sentimental reading of that time there was no crime and people didn't lock their doors.
ReplyDeleteGreat review of changes during a lifetime. Love it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you combined your changes with natures changes. We really have seen a lot of change in our time.
ReplyDeleteWow, these changes are quite extraordinary in their experience and adoption. In my 20-something years of existence, I am already bewildered by the swiftness of these transitions today — it falls way too short of all that you have seen and lived. A wonderful read.
ReplyDelete-HA
LOVE this piece! Chuckling at the recounting of the "music" that turned out to be the Good Humor Man rather than someone's device. :) I can relate to so many of these memories....we recently uncovered a video I made when our son was just starting 5th grade (he's 42 now) of the house, neighborhood, and schools our children had been in and were in then. I'd forgotten all about that old VHS taped video. We thought we were going to move away because of a job change -- but the job didn't materialize and we continued to raise our children in that home, until they'd both graduated from high school. We had the tape made into a DVD and then watched it.....oh my. Talk about witness to changes. There was our wall rotary phone. Our beloved dogs, long gone. I even zoomed the camera in on mementos on shelves, the dressers in our kids' rooms, etc. And hour's worth of memories. We had copies made for our kids and recently watched them with their children marveling at seeing their parents rooms etc. So glad we had occasion to make the video (I borrowed a camera from the library at the time) -- and so wish I had something like this showing the inside of my childhood home. Your words should be passed on to your family! :)
ReplyDeleteloved this trip down your memory lane and how you have adapted and gamefully accepted it all. this should be in a hall of fame somewhere, who would remember all this when the keeper of the memories can't recall them anymore. i showed my kids a cheque franking machine and they thought it utterly cool that we had "gadgest" back in the day
ReplyDeleteI remember those days as well. It is amazing how much things have changed.
ReplyDeleteSuch a comprehensive and poetic look back at life. Beautiful, Ma'am!
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes we look back on the good ol' times with longing, but when we realized how much hard work it was we don't want to miss the comfort of today.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this, the long and shorts, only the birds flying above, even the friends playing cards is somewhat of a novelty these days. I see my young sisters in-law sitting around with their friends and they're all staring at their phones. It's hard not to romanticize the past, especially seeing the environmental cost of our choices to make life more convenient.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this, Bev. Always more changes to recall. Oh how I miss the Good Humor Man!
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