Poem That Was Us - A little nostalgia...

. . . . a little 'going back'. . . . .  Lots of memories

A POEM THAT WAS US

 

A little house with three bedrooms,  
One bathroom and one car on the street  
A mower that you had to push  
To make the grass look neat.

 

In the kitchen on the wall  
We only had one phone,  
And no need for recording things,  
Someone was always home.

 

We only had a living room  
Where we would congregate,  
Unless it was at mealtime  
In the kitchen where we ate.

 

We had no need for family rooms  
Or extra rooms to dine.  
When meeting as a family  
Those two rooms would work out fine.

 

We only had one TV set  
And channels maybe two,  
But always there was one of them  
With something worth the view

 

For snacks we had potato chips  
That tasted like a chip.  
And if you wanted flavor  
There was Lipton's onion dip.

 

Store-bought snacks were rare because  
My mother liked to cook  
And nothing can compare to snacks  
In Betty Crocker's book

 

Weekends were for family trips  
Or staying home to play  
We all did things together –  
Even go to church to pray.

 

When we did our weekend trips  
Depending on the weather,  
No one stayed at home because  
We liked to be together

 

Sometimes we would separate  
To do things on our own,  
But we knew where the others were  
Without our own cell phone

 

Then there were the movies  
With your favorite movie star,  
And nothing can compare  
To watching movies in your car

 

Then there were the picnics  
at the peak of summer season,  
Pack a lunch and find some trees  
And never need a reason.

 

Get a baseball game together  
With all the friends you know,  
Have real action playing ball –  
And no game video.

 

Remember when the doctor  
Used to be the family friend,  
And didn't need insurance  
Or a lawyer to defend

 

The way that he took care of you  
Or what he had to do,  
Because he took an oath and strived  
To do the best for you

 

Remember going to the store  
And shopping casually,  
And when you went to pay for it  
You used your own money?

 

Nothing that you had to swipe  
Or punch in some amount,  
And remember when the cashier person  
Had to really count?

 

The milkman used to go  
From door to door,  
And it was just a few cents more  
Than going to the store.

 

There was a time when mailed letters  
Came right to your door,  
Without a lot of junk mail ads  
Sent out by every store .

 

The mailman knew each house by name  
And knew where it was sent;  
There were not loads of mail addressed  
To "present occupant”

 

There was a time when just one glance  
Was all that it would take,  
And you would know the kind of car,  
The model and the make

 

They didn't look like turtles  
Trying to squeeze out every mile;  
They were streamlined, white walls, fins  
And really had some style

 

One time the music that you played  
Whenever you would jive,  
Was from a vinyl, big-holed record  
Called a forty-five

 

The record player had a post  
To keep them all in line  
And then the records would drop down  
And play one at a time.

 

Oh sure, we had our problems then,  
Just like we do today  
And always we were striving,  
Trying for a better way.

 

Oh, the simple life we lived  
Still seems like so much fun,  
How can you explain a game,  
Just kick the can and run?

 

And why would boys put baseball cards  
Between bicycle spokes  
And for a nickel, red machines  
Had little bottled Cokes?

 

This life seemed so much easier  
Slower in some ways  
I love the new technology  
But I sure do miss those days.

 

So time moves on and so do we  
And nothing stays the same,  
But I sure love to reminisce  
And walk down memory lane.

 

With all today's technology  
We grant that it's a plus!  
But it's fun to look way back and say,  
HEY LOOK, GUYS, THAT WAS US! ​