Monday, April 22, 2019

The simplest of times

      The picture below is me on my birthday in 1961. One of my sisters is on the left and one of my brothers is on the right. That was when they liked or at least tolerated me. My youngest brother in the picture has sadly passed from this world far too young.



      I am thinking back about how much simpler times were back then. I had never been in trouble, so I had free reign from my parents to come and go as I pleased. I had a job and shortly after had a car. There were no responsibilities like a house payment, utilities to worry about, no phone, no insurance (I was on my dad's car insurance). I got by well in school with little effort and I liked my job working in a gas station/garage. Dating was not expensive or complicated, it was a sock hop, or a drive-in movie or just cruising around where everyone else went to do the same thing. Later on it was finding a secluded spot to steal a kiss or two. Sometimes a date was swimming at a public pool or a nearby swimming hole. Saturdays it could be a stock car race on a banked track, better if there was also a demolition derby with it. Sundays it could be a 1/4 mile drag racing strip.
      I would muse over how great it would be when I could make $100 a week and have a wife, a new car and a house. That was possible back then. Everything seemed possible in those days. I had my own uniforms at the service station with my name over the shirt pocket and they were laundered by the uniform company for a few dollars a week. I had no need for a washing machine, no dishes or pots and pans, no electronics to worry about. The man I worked for liked to drink a lot and would get drunk at times and fire me, but the next day he would be sober and call me on the family landline to tell me to come back to work.
      I made enough money to spend and still have a few dollars left by the next payday. I didn't watch much TV and no news at all. Since I spent what I earned I had no money to invest and therefore didn't have to worry about the stock market or money in a bank because I was paid in cash. I had no one to supervise and required none myself. I had nothing, (even the car was in dad's name although I did pay for it) leaving me nothing to worry about. There were no worries, no fears and nothing to lose.
      
      
      
      
      
Copyright Bill Weber 2019 and beyond.

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