The Good Old Days

Sunday in church the priest discussed how his late mother used to talk about how much better life was in the good old days. First, I wondered what good old days. Second, I was struck by how different his mother was from mine. They were of an age. Both grew up in the economically disastrous period following World War I that was exacerbated by the Great Depression. They became adults during the Second World War. The period from 1918 through the 1950’s was a time of economic deprivation for much of the United States and the world. If you don’t believe me, check your history books.

What good old days?

I was raised hearing that no matter how bad my Baby Boomer siblings and I thought we had it, at least we had indoor plumbing and a furnace that heated the whole house. Not just a wood stove in the kitchen that we had to hope didn’t go out on a subzero night in the middle of the winter. We had electricity, not kerosene lamps. We lived in town where our schools were within walking or biking distance, not the middle of the country at a time when there were no school buses. We had a radio in the kitchen that most days could pull in stations from as far away as Chicago. We even had a television. In our neck of the woods during the 1950’s and early 1960’s televisions were not a common household possession.

As life in the majority of American homes improved during the 1960’s, I began to hear a new saying from my mother. Even before Carly Simon’s song came out.