I Remember When...

I Remember When….

Suzanne Marsh

I used to dislike those words immensely, especially when I was younger. I am seventy-six; my memory works well for an old lady. I was born in October of 1949; my parents married in 1947. My mom’s wedding gown was all hand-sewn; most women today would not consider wearing a wedding gown that did not come from a bridal shop, such as David’s. Time has a way of flying by; my mom sewed a lot of my dresses, including my baptismal gown. Growing up in the late 1950’s and 1960’s was certainly not for wimpy children. We rode bicycles with no helmets, and we played outdoor games until the street lights came on. I was playing kickball in the middle of the street, the street lights had just come on, and a voice that could be considered shrill yelled, “SUZANNE”, just as I was making a goal! There was a park at the end of the street, where we used to ice skate, which was so much fun. We would come back home, and my mom always made hot chocolate with Fluff marshmallows. I went to Catholic grade school, and I learned some very important lessons there; “don’t aggravate the nuns” comes to mind. I ran track in seventh and eighth grade; the track had cinders, very uncomfortable for running on. Growing up and becoming a teenager was a rough time. My mom sent me to an all-girls Catholic school, and I spent a great deal of time attempting to get out of that school. The nuns, I am sure, were not happy campers while I was there. There was the cloister to explore, nuns with visions, nuns who jumped from place to place teaching geometry. What an experience that was! I remember the nuns; many smelled like rubbing alcohol. It is a rather strange memory, but a memory nonetheless.

Music, for my part, has devolved into something I don’t even recognize any longer. Music in the 1950’s gave us Mitch Miller: The Yellow Rose of Texas and Colonel Bogey March (Bridge Over the River Kwai). There were so many hits, I was a preteen then. The 1960’s brought the British Invasion, the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman and the Hermits, Manfred Mann, and so many others. The music, then, you could still understand the words. There is nothing more beautiful to listen to than lyrics and music that mean something to the one listening. The 1970’s music was laid back, the Beatles split and went their own ways, Paul McCartney went on to form his own band “Wings”. John Lennon married Yoko Ono; they formed the Plastic Ono Band. Times were changing, by the 1980’s music became harder to understand, the lyrics were not peaceful, nor was the music. In the 1990s, I gave up on rock and began listening to country western; at least that made some sense. There was a shift in country western music; it now sounds like hip hop. Whatever happened to music you could understand?

Hair in the 1950’s was pageboys for girls, and boys were a nice, neat cut. The advent of the 1960’s brought long hair on both women; it was so horrible for a while I could not tell the difference unless the guy had a beard! The hippies, the yippies, and Dr. Timothy Leary were all part of a strange culture taking over the world. LSD was a prominent drug designed by Dr. Timothy Leary; its street name was “acid”. So many young people now had drug problems, but it was just beginning. Drugs were everywhere. By the 1980’s, meth was a large problem. Times were changing even more; cars took over the simple pleasure of walking. In the 1950s and 1960’s, we walked to the store, the plaza, and so on. We walked to church, we walked to school. So what happened/ Why don’t we walk anymore? Cars are part of the answer. More and more people learned to drive, me included. Driving a car became a necessity for most people. Jobs were further away, and who in their right mind wanted to walk a mile to work? Just jump in the car and drive. People became lazy. Today, unless you are a fitness person, and not too many of us are, no one walks. My neighbor’s granddaughter works two blocks from her home, and she drives a Chevy Suburban, go figure. Shopping, we used to walk to several of the stores, including the drug store; now folks don’t walk anywhere. I think it may be a lost art! Driving has become a challenge, merge is a very misunderstood vocabulary word. I was driving to choir when some meathead tried to merge in front of me at a traffic light. I hit my brakes and thanked the Lord I was still in one piece! There is no common courtesy any longer. Please and Thank You are foreign words to several generations. I have one daughter and son-in-law who say thank you, the other two think it is their due. Their children are the same way. I taught them to say please and thank you; I guess my efforts were in vain. It is not just a matter of please and thank you; whatever happened to men opening doors for ladies? I wish I knew! My husband is a rarity; he opens the doors for me a good percentage of the time. There was a time when most men did courteous things for women, or as we were known, the weaker sex. I often wonder what happened to those times. Times when the family got together for Sunday dinners and holidays. Picnics were the order of the day back in the day. Every family had a picnic basket. We went to the beach or to a park, where we could enjoy a day. Family meant a lot to everyone. Where would we be without family? Cousins would come and visit, or we would go to visit. Aunts and Uncles, it seemed as if there were more of them way back. Yes, times have changed, and I'm not sure for the better.