From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Back in 2017, Dave and I received the BESTEST of NEWS. We were going to be grandparents! Today we have four grandchildren: Charli at almost 5, Ellie at 5, Max Margaret at 3 and Big Boy Scout at 10 months.

We have so many stories to share with our grandchildren, but getting them to sit and listen is another story. These happy children have so many diversions and  have so much energy! I can’t wait to tell them all about Howdy Doody, the Lone Ranger, swinging on the Tarzan vines at Monkey Vine Palace and sharing Christmas around the tree with our prisoners at the jail where I grew up when Dad was sheriff.

Hopefully, one of my kids’ favorite TV programs will still be on TV so my grandchildren will be able to enjoy “Sesame Street.” My kids, Kate and Andy, were especially fond of Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. We’d laugh at Oscar’s grumpy comments followed by the next program, “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” with his soothing, comforting voice. When I tell my precious grandbabies that we couldn’t see any pictures on our black and white TV until it warmed up with several minutes of fuzzy white snowflakes, I’m sure they’ll shake their heads with wonder. Black and white, what’s that? They’re only familiar with big screen, color TVs and watching shows on computers, even on a parent’s phone.

It’ll be such fun to tell them about when I was growing up I’d spend all day with my friends at the beach or out in the woods, finally coming home for supper when the whistle blew, telling me it was time to eat. I’ll enjoy telling them about the handsome “Lone Ranger” on TV with his black mask and his sidekick, Tonto, riding horses. I’d explain that my friends and I would spend hours searching through the grass on our lawn for a four leaf clover or for a shiny penny on the street. As Charli, Ellie, Max Margaret and Scout grow, they’ll be amazed that my weekly allowance of a quarter allowed me to go to a movie and have popcorn and Black Dot candies, which I ate while rocking in a double seat at the movie theatre. After one or two stories, they’ll probably be itching to get outside and play, rather than listen to Grandma’s tales.

Grandchildren will be amazed to learn that in high school girls wore nylons and a girdle, even though we had no tummy or rear end to cinch in. Our first nylons came with two separate legs, not the pantyhose we pull on so rarely today. Some girls went steady, preferring to spend all their time with just one boy. She’d twist angora thread to fit his class ring on her finger.

Our future teenagers will probably be riding in self-driving cars. Won’t they be shocked when I say that people had to buy gas to get our cars to run? Back in the Fifties and Sixties, gas was so cheap kids could cruise Main Street Saturday nights, even go to an outdoor movie theatre in Alexandria, with kids in the trunk on Buck Nite. There would still be gas in the tank for our folks to drive all week without another fill up. They won’t know about families having only one gas powered car, drive-in movies nor phones with cords. In Grandma’s day, there was always a gas station attendant to pump the gas, wash the windshield, check the oil, even put air in the tires for no extra charge. We even received green stamps at some filling stations. We’d save those green stamps for months, paste them in a booklet. If we accumulated the number of required stamps, we could claim FREE one of the many treasures pictured in the green stamp catalogue. Oh the stories grandmas and grandpas will tell their grandchildren. It’s a world of wonder that we live in.

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.