OLD MOVIE GOT ME THINKING

Now that the commercial is over, we can get back to our regularly scheduled program.

Last night I didn’t do much of anything. Just sat around watching t.v. They had an old John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara movie on called "The Quiet Man" I was watching that and really enjoying it till my husband got home. Then he wanted to watch "The sum of all fears" so that is where the t.v. went. I ended up taking a long bath hoping the show would be over by the time I got out. As luck would have it, it wasn’t so I ended up watching the ending with him.

I love watching some old shows. Especially family type. The other day I watched the original version of "Cheaper by the dozen". I love that movie. It brings me to times when there was no t.v. and families spent time together. They didn’t have anything to do so they would read, learn how to play instruments, write, visit, sew, (what we call crafting today) and make things. They would sit and TALK to each other. Imagine that - talking. I wonder what they would talk about for hours on end.

People seemed to spend a lot of time outdoors and used their imaginations a lot more. A lot of our great story writers came from those days. Different writers of the classics and writers of our famous nursery ryhmes and fairy tales. They would sit around the fire and make up stories to tell the children and some they would want to hear over and over again. Eventually they wrote them down and we have the benefit of them today.

My dad was and still is a great story teller. He can take something he did as a kid and weave the greatest story around it. He doesn’t have to make up stuff, he just tells his stories so good that they keep you interested and a lot of them are very funny. He did make up stories for us when we were children. He would love to tell stories of poor little girls that no one loved and I would bawl my eyes out. They I’d ask him to tell me another sad story. If he ran out of stories to tell, he would begin to sing the saddest songs and I would cry and cry. I loved those times.

Every once in awhile my mom would pull out her guitar and my dad would pull out his violin and we would have a great time listening to them play and singing along. Those were times I loved the most and they really bound us all together.

Of course that was all in the early days when t.v. was just getting it’s start. It didn’t take long before t.v. took over the lives of most families. Now, if you aren’t watching t.v. you are playing video games or on the computer. I am no better. I used to use the t.v. as a babysitter quite often when my children were little. I wish I could turn back time because I think I would do things much differently today. I did hear once about making the effort to make memories for you kids. I went through a period where I was conscientiously doing that.

One night I decided to have a restaurant night for my oldest daughter. I bought some stuff to decorate the table with and I made her a menu to choose her food from. I told her she could invite her grandma and grandpa and have dinner with them - all by herself. I would be the maid and her dad would be the servant. The evening went o.k. although my parents felt strange having us not sit with them. I wonder if my daughter even remembers that time.

Why is it that just because they are older now, I don’t think that I have to create more memories? I think I will try to think of something and do it for them. After all, I want them to remember some good things about their mom now that she is older. They might think I’ve gone into my second childhood, but who cares. Anyone have any good ideas for something different and memorable?

Have yourself a memorable day.