Changing Times..........

My youngest, Peter, came home from a campout yesterday exclaiming "I got to shuck corn for dinner last night, I've never done that before!" At first I was just a little surprised, and maybe a little embarrassed. What will people think that my child is 15 and has never shucked corn?? What kind of a mother am I? Then, as I thought about it, it occurred to me. He has never milked a cow either, or gathered eggs from the hen house, or walked 3 miles a day to school (uphill both ways), or had to dig a hole for a new outhouse. I'm pretty sure that my father did most of these things. (I heard plenty of stories about it when I was a kid! At least about the outhouse and walking to school) I guess my point is.....times have changed. My father and mother grew up during the depression era. My dad lived in a very modest 'tar paper' home, with no running water and an outhouse out back. My mother's dad died when she was only 5, and the youngest of 10 children. Her mother took in washing, and ironing for people to help support the family and the older brothers got extra jobs to help out. (Let me interject here....that Peter has offered to drop out of school and get a job to help out should Joe not find work soon!) I grew up a little differently, in the 60's, a time of great change for our country....my 'hardships' (according to my children) were the lack of color tv, cable and internet. We had no microwaves, video games or vcr/dvd players (we could only watch a show once, poor us!) At the time I was born, there were only 48 states, gas was 25 cents a gallon, bread 20 cents a loaf, and Ike was President. Yes, times have changed, and I can only imagine how they will continue to change as my children and grandchildren grow up.

This is the home my dad grew up in......

This is me and my brother, Peter, in 1960 or 61.....