I Remember When... and Beyond, from an email challenge from Cleo Options

[Guest_Rosemerta_*]

I received an email from Cleo that came somewhat as a challenge. I didn't see it listed as a challenge so figured I had best put it here, especially since I may continue to add chapters.

Prologue;

The Internet has become a great source of inspiration for many writers. Such is the case for the basis of this book. There are hundreds if not thousands of ‘Food For Thought’ emails floating around and the owner of my favorite writing forum sent me one on surviving the 1930’s through 1970’s, which brought back many memories.

I taught art and computers for many years and quite often entertained my students with comparisons of those days and now. It sometimes made me realize just how old I was getting but the look of wonderment in their eyes was well worth the sharing.

I was born in the early 1950s but my parents and grandparents were great story tellers, I remember their accounts and how they mesmerized me just as mine had my students. Somehow these life experiences are much more entertaining than what we read in history books.

One of my students was so enthralled with the progress made in radios and TV that he researched it and wrote a term paper for his Language Arts class. When I asked one class if they found these accounts humorous or depressing one child said “Both but also amazing.”

Hopefully you will find the same in my words along with a little nostalgia, if you be of an age to revive your own memories.


Riding in Cars:

Statistics have proven that seatbelts and car seats for children do save lives so this is not to discourage such use by any means. But my earliest memories of riding in a car were laying out on the back ledge of the car to sleep on long trips. Most kids today don’t even know what the back ledge was. At that time it was just me and my brother. He was older and got the seat and I got the ledge. I remember laying there and looking at the top of the trees as we drove by or gazed at the moon and stars till I fell asleep.

When there were three of us we shifted spots. My brother got the floor, I got the seat, and my sister got the ledge. Then there were four of us and my brother moved to the front seat, I got the floor, my sister got the seat and my baby sister got the ledge. This was my favorite spot as I could hear the soothing rhythm of the tires on the pavement through the floorboard.

When I was in college I had a chance to relive the ledge experience when my fiancé and a friend joined me on a 2,000 mile trip to go home for the holidays. Our vehicle was an old VW bug and the back seat was packed full of luggage and gifts. Both men were 6’3” tall and I only 5’2” so you know who got to crawl up in the back window. Speed limits were higher back then so luckily we made the trip in 23 hours but I wouldn’t care to travel like that again.

By the time I had children they had come out with car seats but they were nothing like those of today. The one I used was made of canvas stretched over a lightweight metal frame. It had two holes for tiny legs to dangle from and it hooked over the back of the seat. And shocking as it may sound it was placed in the front seat.

My oldest son was hyperactive from the beginning and I had trouble keeping him in the seat, let alone have him running loose in the back where I couldn’t get to him. It was easier to manage him this way and keep him entertained but I have to admit that I would have preferred the safety of today’s devises if they had been available. If anyone else rode in the front seat with us he would have sat on their lap or tucked between us on the seat.

My middle son learned the value of seat belts the hard way. He was riding with a friend who had just gotten his driver’s license. They were on their way into town to pick up a pizza and traveling a washboard gravel road. His friend took a sharp turn to fast and they went off the road and rolled a couple of times. My son was thrown from the car and both ended up in the hospital. He was lucky in that he only had a mild concussion and several bruises and scratches. But it was serious enough that he couldn’t participate in the next day’s wrestling tournament where he had a chance to place at state. For me it was a rude awakening as to how quickly your life can change and how easy one could loose a child.

There was another occasion when my fear was tripled. It was a cold winter morning where a light snow covered icy roads from it raining the night before. My boys were in high school and driving home in their father’s pickup truck. The middle son was driving and the older rode shotgun and both were wise enough to have fastened their seatbelts. But there wasn’t any for the middle spot where my youngest sat. They were driving responsibly but even I had nearly slid off on the same curve they approached earlier. Their truck left the road and traveled over a steep embankment. They could easily have gone through the windshield. But my pride came when I learned the older boys had both stretched their arms out to hold the youngest back and kept him from harm. They came a way with a few bruises and were pretty shook up but they were alive. I still shudder to think how my world could have come to an end that day.

Though this is a serious issue there is some humor in the safety of today. I now have five grandsons and each has had a different car seat. It was sometimes comical watching me try to install a car seat in my vehicle, which sometimes took longer than the drive we were making. It was pretty bad when an older child had to show me how to fasten a younger child in and even worse when the child had to show me how to get them out. So much for being a mechanical wiz.


Trucking On Down The Road:

Despite the safety issues of riding in the back of a truck I have many fond memories of doing so. As a young child I loved climbing into the back of an old truck with my brother when my dad went to cut wood. We could feel the crisp air hitting our faces as we traveled down the road and there was a feeling of freedom even though we knew we would get a spanking if we were caught horsing around back there. Coming back we were tucked between the logs and the smell of fresh cut wood was delightful.

It was a similar feeling when we rode on bales of hay piled high. There was a different smell and the air was warm yet a cooling drive on a hot day. I remember being jostled about as we drove through the fields. In a way it helped to teach us balance. It also was a great place to have sing-a-longs.

In high school our class was famous for doing bottle and paper drives. It was amazing how much money we could raise and the pride we held in doing so. We would take off in two or three trucks packed with students and go door to door through our small town. By the end of the day the truck bed was loaded with our collections and we all had to sit on the outer edge of the truck. We learned to work together and had great comradery which made us one of the closest nit classes in the history of our school. There was much merriment and amazingly no one ever fell off. Kids today will never have that experience.

When my boys were young and we made a few trips to New York from Nebraska to visit family. There wasn’t room for all of them in the front so we rigged the truck for an easier ride. We installed a topper to the back and a back window to the cab that would allow them to call through while I was driving if one of them wanted to sit up for awhile. A large mattress was placed in the back the covered most of the bed and our luggage was in the rear or strapped to the top. They had pillows and blankets along with a few favorite toys. They seemed to have more freedom riding this way than in a car and coped pretty well.

I do remember one Christmas when we made the trip and it was minus seven degrees when we headed out. We had installed a special heater to the back and piled on extra sleeping bags. Luckily the boys slept most of the time under the warm covers but I nearly froze in the cab and at times was tempted to turn back. To save money we would always pull into rest stops for me to get a little sleep while the boys got to run off a little steam. One wouldn’t dare do that today. But on this trip I had to break down outside of Chicago and check us into a cheap motel. The heat had been directed to the bed of the truck so my toes were close to suffering frostbite. I had to thaw them out and after hours of battling strong winds and blowing snow I was exhausted. It was too cold to just park the truck and sleep in it for a few hours. Though I worried about the expense the boys thought this was a great adventure and treated the room as if we were in a palace. They were in awe of every little thing and better behaved than I had ever seen them.

My grandsons are growing up with the new safety regulations but their fathers do let them ride in the back of a truck when out in the field and driving slowly. They are learning to help with chores and may sometimes experience riding and comforting an injured calf or being protected and loved by a faithful dog.

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hey there Jackie.

I'm thrilled to see you taking up the challenge to write a response to the email I sent around. I hope to write something too. The one that really stuck out for me was the reference to how we used to play outside, no computers, phones, x-box, playstations etc., just good ole' rough-housing outside (that's how we stayed fit, too)! I was a twiggie growing up.

I look forward to reading this and commenting this weekend when I have some free time to put toward the forums.
Have a great day!
~Cleo

[Guest_Rosemerta_*]

Hi Cleo,

LOL... I never know whether to call you Cleo or Lori.

There was a lot of food for thought in your challenge. I wish I had taken more time to think it out when I started. My mind is running in too many directions these days.

Man.... I never looked like a 'Twiggy'. But I know I was more active and in much better shape back then. We never had expensive toys or more than a couple for that matter. We had to make up our own entertainment.

Look forward to reading your thoughts on this topic in prose. Always nice to see how others grew up.

~~<@ Jackie

[JLY]

Jackie,
This brings back fond memories. I was born in the forties, grew up in the 50's and we had no car seats when I was a young boy. My Mom would hold me in her lap when we would go out on Sunday drives.

Your story is a nostalgic piece but is of interest to every generation.

There are some things that could be tightened up a bit with some minor tweaking. I stumbled on the following sentence,

They were on their way into town to pick up a pizza and traveling a washboard gravel road.

Perhaps the phrases, traveling a washboard road and picking up a pizza should be reversed.

I would also like you to add a little more detail.....

It was a similar feeling when we rode on bales of hay piled high. There was a different smell

Tell us what the different smell was.....could you compare it to something. For your readers who have never been on a farm, they need to know what scents and flavors are of the things you are depicting.

I enjoyed it because I can identify with your earlier memories and I like how you took it to the modern era.

Thanks for sharing your story with us.

JLY

[Guest_Rosemerta_*]

Hi JLY,

Sorry I took so long to reply. Its been hard getting back in here with home routine a bit wild. Thanks for the great suggestions. I've always been terrible at getting back to revise work but I'm going to try to hit it head long this summer.

~~Jackie

[Thoth]

Hi Rosmerta,
I loved your story, it took took me right back to my childhood when we did almost identical things in cars and Trucks. I too grew up on a farm.
I'm not too good at critiquing prose but it went quite smoothly for me with clear imagery and nice flow. The only hiccup that stood out was;
"They came a way with a few bruises"
should be "away"
Thanks for sharing, Wally

[Sekhmet]

Hello Rosemerta - I did so enjoy reading your nostalgic reminiscences about the car journeys of long ago.
As I am seventy, I am certainly of an age to enjoy having my memory jogged by your writing.
I shuddered at the part where the three of you shared sleeping space in the back of the car - stacked on the floor, the seat and the back ledge. Any modern Health and Safety officer would have a nervous breakdown at the very thought.
We used to take the back seats out of our tiny, (by US standards.) Renault 4, and lay four or five children sardine style, head to tail in sleeping bags; utilising every inch of space for our journeys to France.
Part of one of your sentences had a possibly unintended surrealist humour - "By the time I had children they had come out with car seats." I knew exactly what you meant, but the mental image was mind boggling.
I notice that this was a post from last year - I hope it isn't too late for a newbie to comment on a fine piece of writing.
Leo