Sundays and Old Ways

.
In Those Days, by that I mean the day when I was a child, I lived just about everywhere one could imagine. Whether I lived in the plain states, or in the heavy industrial states, or in the farmlands, or along the east coast, or in Europe, Sundays seemed to be the same.

Sundays were spent with family. Most Sundays meant going to church while wearing the best clothes you had, then visiting with family or close friends. We usually had an early dinner of fried chicken, then settled around the TV together after everyone left to watch some family oriented program.

Other than taking the Chevy wagon on a Sunday drive, there really wasn't much else to do. The stores were closed as were all but a few key businesses like maybe a movie house, or Mickey D's. But we couldn't go there except only on the most special of days, when my dad had found some extra money in the budget. And that was how the Old Ways were for most people I knew.

By the time I began my family, things changed. More and more businesses were staying open longer into the evenings, then on the weekends, and then some went 24 hours a day nearly every day of the year. First were gas stations, then came super markets, and now, you can shop for most anything 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

But not here. Not in this town. Not in the Big Cities. Nowhere in this State that I know of. Yeah, you can still get groceries and gas here on the weekends but not much more. So thinking it was mainly the way it was in our town, last Sunday we skipped church (that was bad) and headed into the Bigger City to select some living room furniture. And we also planned to visit my inland area udda brudda, and his family after shopping.

Well after driving an hour and a half to the first Bigger City inland, we found only one of the two major stores open. Paid little attention to the close one, but couldn't find anything we liked in the other. So, were drove another hour or so to an even Bigger City. Of the two stores we planned to visit, neither were open.

At first thought, I couldn't believe it, and was rather irritated. We spent the extra time with the udda brudda, and that was fun. Then I realized that was the way Sundays were, when we did things in the Old Ways. And Those Days were the ones I liked best.

I guess living in the Biggest City on the west coast for so many years took a piece of me. Now I need to let that go. To love people and to love God, hear at the Thought Dock, and from wherever I travel.
.