Those Were The Days My Friend

Those Were The Days My Friend

I read a quote the other day, I don’t know who said it so I have no one to give it credit. 

However, the logic and timing was perfect.

“Sometimes I wish I could just rewind back to the good old days and press pause….just for a little while.”

The good old days, this started my nostalgic brain to wondering.

What was so good about the good old days?

Recently my beautiful wife and I made a trip back to Macon for my families reunion. 

As we traveled we made what has become one of many, what I like to call pit stops on the way.

As I get older I have found that, I visit more fast food restaurants and convience stores as I travel and it is not to get snacks and lunch.

Isn’t it funny how a family begins with two people who have a dream and vision for their future and wind up with a house full of people.

My Mom and Dad did exactly that. It began with two and created 36 defying the logic that 1+1=2.

At Christmas, when everyone gathered at their house to celebrate and open gifts, my Dad would scan the room, look at my mom and say, “Look what we did.”

As I exited the vehicle my eye caught an unusual object sitting just off the parking lot.

As I gazed at it, I smiled reliving in my mind the many days and times that I got out of my car to use one for business and personal reasons.

There in my line of sight was a pay telephone, yes you read correctly, a pay phone.

I remember when a call was only a dime, I also remember when it escalated to a quarter.

In 1969, I was in high school working part time at Butler Shoes in the mall in Macon. Brenda, my girlfriend and now my wonderful wife of almost forty-four years was attending school in Atlanta.

Weekend dating was not fun, however as kids we were supposed to suffer lifes little issues to prepare us for better things.

I remember saving my change to make the nightly call to her via the pay phone inside the store.

For the younger generation who might pick this article up to read, allow me to explain how a long distance call on a pay phone works.

You dial “O” for an operator which was no charge because that was their job. Then you give her the number you would like to call and she tells you how much per minute to deposit.

After placing your coins in the machine, you may talk for three minutes. If memory serves me correctly, and at times that is stretching it, three minutes was thirty-five cents.

At the end of about two minutes and forty-five seconds, you got a message that your time was almost up and to deposit more money for three more minutes.

Today the pay phone is obsolete, antique, never seen. So this was a find.

I was listening to my satellite radio the other day, what did we do without a satellite radio to follow us everywhere we go? 

Music has not been the same or as good, in my humble opinion since the 60s and 70s. What has happened to the melody and the beat.

Don Williams, Conway Twitty, Seals and Croft, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and I could go on and on. 

At night leaving the shoe store after work, I could pick up WLS out of Chicago on my AM radio and it was static free. 

We had eight track tape decks and cassettes and you actually could afford to buy them.

The Porter Wagner Show was a Saturday afternoon television staple in most homes. I even remember the first time Dolly Parton appeared on his show, she actually replaced a great singer named Norma Jean.

I also watched Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris play baseball on Saturday afternoons and wholesome shows like The Real McCoys, I Love Lucy, The Jackie Gleason show, and yes my all time favorite, Andy Griffin.

We knew our neighbors and was there to aid them when times were tough. We sat to the dinner table at night and shared time as a family.

I can remember some difficult times as well as I take my trip back to yester year in my mind. 

I look back at the days of the horrible Vietnam War, the fear of the draft, and the loss of life. 

The loss of friends that went and never returned, the rioting and burning of the draft cards.

I recall the tragic moments of an attempted assassination on a Presidential candidate and the resignation of a standing President.

As Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get” as it is with life.

Sometimes late in the evening when the house is quiet with only the sound of the TV, I think about the good old days and I smile.

I relive those moments and the things that we now take for granted.

A lot of times I wish I could just rewind back to the good old days and press pause…