As we grow older and see all the changes taking place around us, we sometimes like to go back and remember back when. Often it is when this or that happened, or didn’t happen, when it was like this, or like that. These drifting memory sessions bring back thoughts of happier days, more carefree times, and how we all fitted in. Some of our memories are painful, and it seems like the powers that be push these memories into the background. Here of some of the things we think of when we remember when. See how many you remember, or how many you can add to the list.

Remember when we all had to have steering knobs to help the steering of our cars (before power steering), or the fender skirts, the curb feelers to let you know when you were close to the curb, or the “Continental Kits” to imitate the Lincoln Continental? Remember when the “emergency brake’ became the “parking brake,’ or when the running boards disappeared? We used to say, “Coast to Coast” — now it’s “Worldwide.” Wall to wall was a time we all got carpeting in our homes from wall to wall. Now we are replacing the carpeting with hardwood flooring, and these hardwood floors do not need a weekly waxing like we thought the old ones needed.

When was the last time you heard of someone “in a family way”? The word pregnant was just not spoken outside the doctor’s office. Boy! What a blessing it would be if that was the worst we heard today.

You never hear of a “percolator” today — it’s a coffee maker now. And when was the last time you sat for 15 minutes watching a “test pattern” on a TV, even though you can still see some black and white movies on some channels?

Your cars don’t have the little triangle-shaped vent windows since air conditioning came along. Some of you may remember the old Nash Ambassador with the vent in front of the windshield with a compartment you could put a block of ice in to help cool inside. And back then we had powerglide, hydramatic, dynaflow or four on the floor for transmissions.

Remember when mom was home when you got in from school, and a snack was ready. Nobody had a purebred dog, and they stayed in the yard. A quarter was a decent allowance, and you would reach in a muddy ditch for a penny. Back then mom wore stockings that were two pieces, male teachers wore a necktie and the female teachers had their hair done every day and all wore high heels.

Remember when you had your windshield cleaned, water added, tires aired-up and the oil checked, all for free while the attendant filled the tank with 37-cent gasoline. Back then a ’57 Chevy was everyone’s dream car, and we cruised, peeled out and couples went steady. The keys were always in the car, and the doors were never locked, either.

Back then being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to what happened when you got home. Maybe someone will remember Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laural and Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk and the Grand Ole Opry live on the radio. Summers were filled with bike rides, baseball games, hula hoops, bowling and visits to Cassidy Park to swim. Doesn’t it make you feel good to say, “Yeah, I remember that?”

Do you remember 45-rpm records, S&H green stamps and Hi-Fi, or telephone numbers with letters mixed with the numbers, PF Flyers, or newsreels before the movie in the park? Or maybe ice cube trays with a metal lever, Studebakers, drive-in theaters, washtub wringers, or maybe the Fuller Brush man, or when decisions were made with “eeny, meeny, miney, moe”? If you remember most of these, you have lived.

Yes, those were what we called the “good old days,” and times might be better if we had some of the same guidelines today. We are thankful we have a Lord that will guide us if we remember to ask Him.

May He bless us all today.