Old-fashioned missing pieces

It's not often that I consciously think about the now-considered "old fashioned" things I grew up with. It was just a part of my world. How things used to be. My experiences.

While we were in Minnesota on our spontaneous 2,600 mile trip last month, we stayed with Grammy and Grampy, my in laws. It had been over 2 years since we had been there, and Jimmer remembered less about the house than I expected. He did recall they had a basement which was to be considered a kids-only wonderland while they were there. Basements are novelties to kids raised in Texas!

One morning while we were having breakfast, I drew open the drapes in the dining room. Jimmer put his spoon down, and with dropped jaw he asked how I did that to the curtains. He was totally enthralled with the "mechanical" drapes! He asked me to pull back the curtains so he could see the curtain pulleys. Again--he was totally fascinated!

In this photo are the drapes of interest.



I didn't realize that the kids hadn't seen (or at least noticed) draw drapes before. Hmmm...our house only has blinds, roman shades, and decorative curtains (that don't close).

Interesting.

Then, after we returned home and Jimmer celebrated his 7th birthday, he was excited to get a check that he had to cash. HE wanted to make a big deal about going to the bank to cash it himself. He wanted to go inside the bank...because he didn't remember ever being in a bank before. Really? I went into the bank a couple of times with the kids--maybe 3 years ago! After I thought about it, I realized that it had been at least 2 years since I had entered a bank.

When was the last time you walked into a bank?

Anyway, Jimmer was unusually excited about going to the bank.

Joe took him to cash his check, and when they returned, I asked if he got to go into the bank. He said, "Yes, but I thought banks had a lot of shelves with a bunch of money on them. It didn't."

Interesting. Another missing piece.

I started thinking about other missing pieces from the past. Using cash or writing checks instead of the current mode of swiping plastic or paying online that our kids now see. Maybe that's why Jimmer was so interested in going to the bank--to see REAL money!

Dial phones (and of course, we had a laborious "0" in our number...that I still remember: 445-2053). Our kids don't even think of the dial phones when they think of an old fashioned phone. They think about the old phones from "pioneer" days with the separate ear and mouth piece.

They think of reel-to-reel or vinyl records, but not the 8-track or cassette tapes.
Again, missing pieces.

So, it seems that the kids either think of the new technology we have today or they think back to the really old times. And they miss some pieces in between. Jimmer even asked if we had electricity, running water, or horseless carriages when I was growing up!

Hmmm...what other "missing pieces" have I forgotten?