A Difference at 8?

As our family is currently facing some new, distressing struggles, I started thinking about what my life was like when I was 8 years old (my daughter’s current age). So, let’s take a look. The year was 1968 (I’ll do the math for you – I’ll be 50 in August) …

• My parents both worked. My dad was a mechanic at a gas station. He also pumped people’s gas, washed their windshields and checked their oil. There was no such thing as “self-serve”. My mom worked as a clerk at a music store (a real music store with records, sheet music, band instruments, and a music teacher!). They both made a little more than minimum wage (at the time was $1.60/hour).
• Their combined annual income was $6600, which was  below the average income of  $7800. My dad had an 8th grade education, and my mom had a high school diploma.
  
• Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
  
• Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
• A new house cost about $12,000.
• Race riots and violence were the order of the day.
  
• The end of year Dow Jones average was 943.
• A large quantity of oil was found in Alaska.
• Gasoline cost 34 cents/gallon.
• Cigarette sales were down, so the tobacco companies added more tar and nicotine – there’s nothing like getting people addicted to your product to keep sales up!
• A laptop was a place for little children to sit when they wanted a story.
• Windows were in your house, but not on your non-existent personal computer.
• The Detroit Tigers won an amazing World Series. I know it was amazing, because I listened to Ernie Harwell call the game on the radio!
  
• A 1st class postage stamp cost 6 cents.
• A gallon of milk cost $1.07
• Blog, .com, internet, website, cell-phone, email, wireless, dvd (even vhs), and digital anything were non-existent.
  
• The phone number at our house started with the letters “PL” (plaza), followed by a 5 digit number. It was a party line (just about everybody in our little town was on a party line).
  
• My guess is that the phrase “party line” would have a really different meaning today.
• Twitter was the sound of birds singing in the trees.
• Neighbors knew each other and looked out for each other.
• We still had coal delivered through a chute into our basement to heat the house.

In some ways, life was somewhat easier in 1968, but when I look at it realistically, there were a lot of worries on my parents back then. The unsettledness with the race riots and Vietnam war protests. $6600/year was a struggle even with a lower cost of living. My parents fought and struggled and worried a lot about money and expenses. I guess what I’m really trying to do this morning is convince myself that these new upheavals in our life aren’t going to be a major crisis in the long run for Hannah. Maybe someday she’ll write a blog post about being 8 (although I’m sure the term “blog” will seem very out-of-date by then).

Hanging on …

OneMom