Sunday, May 30, 2010

Perspective

Sunday afternoon is a good time to rest, read, catch up on correspondence and do whatever didn't get done during the week. But today I've been thinking... (uh oh..you say... what now?)

Yep, thinking about how so many things are so very different from one generation to the next. Shortly after Alan and I married, he left for the Army and I didn't get to join him for several months. During that time, I do not remember a single telephone conversation between the two of us. (When we were dating, he lived in Memphis - some 20 miles away, and we talked on the phone Frequently.... like daily, even when we were going out that evening.) Our communication was by mail only. My letters to him were much more frequent then his were to me since he was BUSY all the time with Army training.

When he was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas, I had a two-room apartment in the next town. No phone in the apartment, but one at the end of the downstairs hall. I remember calling home on my 21st birthday to talk to Mother, John and Mama. Charlotte was at work. Long Distance calls in those days were reserved for Very Important news, and were very expensive. So we wrote letters. Many letters.

When our children grew up and started marrying and leaving home, the communication was essentially the same... expensive long distance phone calls - made only rarely - and many many letters back and forth. Fortunately for us only two of our five "left home"... the others settling in the same area when they married and established their own homes.

THEIR children - in today's world - think nothing of calling home daily, or more often, on their Cellular phones, since it doesn't cost hardly anything. Some times are even 'free' in most of the cell phone programs. I doubt that any of the 'away' children have written more than a five or six letters while off at college or working, or even living in another area. Computers with all the bells and whistles of email, Skype and Facebook type communication have made communication an art of its own. Imagine seeing and talking to someone a thousand miles away, thanks to the computer technology..... which had not even been perfected in those "old days" I refer to.

How VERY different it all is these days from what it was 50-60 years ago!!!

1 comment:

EYR said...

I remember when my grandparents moved to Florida in the 70's and we exchanged lots of letters. Calls were on special events and were made after the rates dropped, usually in the evening. Good blog post!