BOXES IN MY LIFE

Back in my day when we were kids and I do use that term loosely because that’s what we were, not goats but kids. People didn’t put all importance on a word but of the way people lived and acted. And of course kids were to be seen and not heard. I don’t remember being upset or hurt over this. All the kids just went outside and played when the adults were visiting. And I feel no pain or remorse over it being so and I don’t see where it effected my brothers or sister over their lifetime either. But yes, there is one small item that I can remember about this subject that I did change when my kids were little. That of the adults eating first and the kids waiting until last! Not me, I fed the kids first before the adults and when I sat down, I didn’t have to hear any whining of how the kids were hungry, and as it was, they were content with their bellies full and happy to go back to their playing, leaving the adults in peace. That was my main complaint when I was little, of some adults who ate up all the good stuff and the kids got the leftovers. Made me feel like a dog that got the table scraps!

That was a time when people visited and family enjoyed family and people enjoyed people. We weren’t made to stay away from the adults all the time. There was time made when we enjoyed the adults too. I remember sitting around the big long table in the dining room with the kerosene lamp perched high on the china cabinet and the adults talking about old times and teasing around with us. The stories were wonderful. I could close my eyes and imagine the stories unfolding in my mind. It helped develop my imagination and ability to think things through. Could be part of the reason that we grew up good at math and problem solving.

Then came the wonderful radio, a small or sometimes large box with the capability of expanding imagination. No, I’m not quite that old, the radio was around but we had no electricity in our early years. When electricity emerged on the scene of our home, Mother and Daddy bought a radio. We sat around and quietly listened to the exciting stories and was capable of the imagining of what was happening inside that little box. It was the next best thing to going to a movie and was the greatest of home entertainment. I spent many nights lying in bed listening to the stories as they came to us from the radio in our parents room or falling asleep listening to the soft music of big band sounds.

Radio probably played the greatest role in giving me pride in my country. The news traveled at rocket speed as President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill spoke of the happenings in World War II giving us hope of continued freedom. Patriotic songs rang out of that little box. My favorite being GOD BLESS AMERICA because God has graciously blessed our homeland in so many ways!

by Joyce Jackson