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Remembrances >
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hunt69
300 posts
Aug 25, 2011
7:49 PM
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Since I retired 25 days ago,I've been driving to Dayton for the day every week.I've been driving the old stomping grounds,visiting friends,some of whom I haven't seen in nearly 40 yrs.We've laughed and remembered many,many days gone by.We talked about some of the really stupid things we did,and couldn't believe we did them.The many friends of ours,some living,some gone far too soon.
As I was driving to return to my home,I was listening to my "oldies station" and thinking about how I used to hear my folks and others,chronologicly advanced individuals,speak about how quickly time was passing by.I used to think how it didn't seem to be passing so quickly for me.Suddenly reality struck me. The memories I had seemed like yesterday.In reality,I was recalling memories from 30 plus and 40 plus yrs ago.My, time is passing by quickly.
I'll always love Dayton for the wonderful memories that were made there.It saddens me a little to acknowledge how much time has passed in my life without giving it much thought.I have more recollections than I could ever begin to tell,and in some of them,I wouldn't tell.Youth is a fleeting period of life I really cherished.
As I thought a little more,I relized I couldn't imagine life without my wife and children in it.I grew more content with each mile nearer to home.Youth had it's place,but thank God For the present and the memories that are being made NOW,with my family.Time,a very precious commodity.
Last Edited by on Aug 28, 2011 6:06 AM
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AllenN71
292 posts
Aug 26, 2011
12:40 PM
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Ah yes; the moving finger writes and, having writ
Moves on, and neither all your piety and wit
Can erase or add a single line, nor all your tears
Wash out a single word of it.
(Smart man, that Omar Khayam. No wonder he could afford a ruby yacht,)
Old Pennsylvania Dutch adage: Ve get too soon Old und too late Schmaht. Ot as someone else said, "youth is wasted on the young". Boy, what I could do in life if I had the experience and skills I've accquired in all these years PLUS the looks, stamina,and energy I had when I was 17. Heck, I could make a jillion dollars making infomercials about the "secret" of my well-preserved state.
BUT REMEMBER, Hunt (and everyone else). We were around before everything went to hell. As I said in the essay about nature, back in the day the creek flowed past sloping banks, not a ravine. When I see a teenager today, one of the first things that goes through my head is that I am glad I am not him.
Occasionally I am able to tell a few kids what things were like during my boyhood. Stuff like no metal detectors or assigned cops in the high schools, being able to run wild in the summer without having our free time sccheduled into extinction. WOuld you believe that a 16 year old kid asked me how I fixed it so my folks couldn't track my cell phone? I guess I should feel good that he told me I didn't look old enough not to have had a cell phone as a teenager, but to him the idea of doing without a cell phone is akin to going without indoor plumbing.
And here's a really great sign of the times: I was approached by a young lady in her late teens who wanted a taxi ride. But instead of asking if she could pay with a credit card, she pinched her thumb and forefinger together and pantomimed swiping plastic; and her VERY FIRST WORDS were "can i slide my card? Can I slide my card?" For some reason probably having to do with a combo of some kid thinking I was so stupid I had to be shown pantomime and this kid's total disconnect with the reality of paying in money, I pulled away and left her standing.
Remember how we were taught to make change? Thus: Customer pays for $2.45 item with a $5 bill. Clerk renders change by counting "That's two-forty-five out of five, here's twentyfive, forty-five, fifty-five is three (placing a quarter and two dimes in your palm) and two more is five (placing two singles ON TOP OF THE LOOSE CHANGE, so that the coins coild be easily retained as you manipulate the bills.) What happens today?
The cashier gives you a stack of bills with the reciept on top and piles the loose change on top. Half the time the loose change winds up on the floor. When you ask for the coins first, then the bills; the clerk either acts all insulted or piles the coins on the reciept and hands you a sandwich of bills and coins with the reciept as the bottom slice.
And all this is just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe time has passed by, Hunt; but just remember: it was quality time, and one helluva lot better than what we presently contend with. I dunno about you, but in my pocket, that's 24 Karat gold.
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tlturbo
263 posts
Aug 26, 2011
2:26 PM
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Allen, I am SO glad someone besides me thinks it is stupid to put the change on top of the bills, BUT then again, soon we won't have to deal with change OR bills.
Keep checking this section for an article I intend to write about my Exploring Nature in Beavercreek in the early to mid 60's. I need to spend aa good bit of time writing it and I'm sure I can't do as good a job as your's.
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87 Buick GN
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AllenN71
302 posts
Sep 01, 2011
12:24 PM
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Turbo, check out the aerial views of the Miami Valley available on a site provided by a new poster, you can see stuff as it was in the 50s, 60s and the turn of the new century/millenium. There is no zoom in, but some high-mag specs give a good bit of detail. It is a VERY useful tool for exploring the past.
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tlturbo
268 posts
Sep 01, 2011
12:31 PM
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There IS a zoom. Use the little dots in the lower right corner to adjust the 'altitude' of the view. Problem I found was one place only had 1950 & 2004. IF the area has the right timeframe, it is cool. I need to spend more time looking at it.
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87 Buick GN
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