Saturday morning and the family gets to sleep in an extra hour before the baby wakes and slowly everyone stirs and slowly walk towards the kitchen .
Because it’s a weekend day, there isn’t the rush of eating, brushin the teeth , making the bed, and scramble to the bus. Mom decided to make the family eggs and toast.
There is no wood to bring in from the shed . There is no burner to light, not even an oven to heat to keep the kids warm. A Teflon skillet, a toaster is loaded, no butter to churn. There is no sending the eldest to fetch milk from old Bessie the cow
The refrigerator is opened for ice-cold milk. Water comes from a turn of the faucet; no pump handle to push for fresh, well water. Need ice? No need to open the freezer door, just set your glass against the handle on the outside of the ice box and press. Whoo-lah, perfectly shaped half-moon ice cubes.
The family sits down together . No conversation of what field work is to be tackled today . Conversations turn more towards how the kids bedrooms look and what hopes they plan to do for the day.
I talk to them from a grandma’s point of view. I told them I used to ride my bike until the roads became snow covered. I told them about jumping rope, using chalk and drawing my own hop scotch map. I played marbles and jacks. I played with my baby dolls.
I came from a family where a familiar saying stood in place. Children should be seen and not heard. We were allowed to play with one toy and if we wanted to choose another toy, we had to put the first toy away.
I looked at the kids toys that almost took over the bedroom . I thought back to my own bedroom as a child and remembered a stuffed animal laying on my wrinkle – free bed. I had a doll bed in the corner which had two, maybe three dolls resting in it, waiting for me to be their mama. There were blankets and old pieces of cloth, turned into washable diapers, with a baby safety pin.
A magic bottle when tipped, the milk would disappear and when sat up right the milk reappeared . I don’t see those nice, wooden baby toy beds anymore in the stores. In fact, I don’t see any more Baby Thumbelinas, or Chatty Cathy dolls. Today there are stiff dolls that need extra dollars spent on clothes, dolls that are voice activated. I don’t see toys to interact with a child’s imagination like we had.
Times have changed for sure. More kids sit and use the fingers for electronic games. Heads are bent towards the face of a cell phone. Interaction is not as much family based today, face to face. We look at photos and sayings on Facebook that may or not be the real person behind the photo.
As I sit eating my oatmeal and my cinnamon toast, I listen to the conversation and I drift back to reality and I smile, as I realize in this home there are still some face to face communication .
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