The Old Days

Here's a few photos from my checkered past. That's my horse, Shadow, when he was young and we worked hard in the mountains. That was my life for a long, long time!

The other is of me driving a vis-a-vis carriage pulled by a registered Percheron mare named Lady. I used to drive that carriage or a wagon pulled by a team around the ranch most weekends, and also in parades in town.

The old days.

I am starting to again have new insight and compassion for older people, as they cling to the old and have trouble grasping the new.

I can only attribute the following to my brain injury. I am starting to notice that my mind jumps to things of the past, the way things "were" done. It's not something I plan to do, it's where I end up, and then sometimes must struggle through.

For example, in my mind's plan, when I arrived in New York and needed to call a cab, I saw myself going to a pay phone to call. In the end, I didn't need to call because my sister met me at the airport, but later, I realised that of course, I have a cell phone. I'd done a lot in my trip-preparation to order new minutes for it and pack the charger and be sure it was charged up!

I also would forget that I could use a credit card, and worried about cash on hand.

This is a fun one. The other day, folding my pajamas after they'd dried, I placed them under my pillow! I have not done this in many, many years. But it was fun to remember when, as a kid, I used to keep my PJs folded neatly under my pillow after getting dressed in the morning.

Ah, the good old days. I'm old enough to remember when there was no toothpaste. Yes, there was such a day! I recall we had "tooth powder" and would shake some of it into the palm of the hand, wet the toothbrush, and the make a paste with the brush, powder and water in the hand.

I grew up with an outhouse out back. There was a time when I was behind ANYONE in line in the checkout who was writing a check, that this really seemed to slow me down. That was not because, as it is today, I could use my credit card. It was because most everyone used cash.

I used to be a grocery checker when I was young, and there were no scanners. One needed to remember the prices and then manually punch them into the machine.

Anyway, just some fun musings back in years and time.

Happy Mother's Day, one and all. Don't forget to call your Mom!