FOND MEMORIES... Looking back in the years to come

GRATITUDE and GIVING THANKS

         Brent and I were just talking about our move to SoCal when Roy was little (21 months) and Tommy was not quite born.   We moved to Huntington Beach for Brent's work and a better future.  We had some pretty rough times there, monetarily, but that time helped us grow and solidified our life together.    

         We have so many happy memories, joy in overcoming the hardships and fun in exploring new places and people.   I think out in the mission field, that area, was one of my favorite times in all the church wards we have been in.   

          Beautiful flowers, fruit orchards and the ocean.   Seemed like heaven in some ways.   Some of our hardest times, but we weathered the brown residue at the bottom of the bottle when I made powdered milk, 1001 ways to cook potatoes as a main dish, fragrant oranges and Brent bringing them home after he had been to help on the Church Farm.   

Learning about Christ-like love from the Armstrong's, our landlords who were of another religion.  Finding and making new friends and building a home in a 2 bedroom apartment. 

I think we can be very grateful we were not a pioneer, just think of the heavy, long dresses with all the petticoats….  I remember when all the homes didn't have dishwashers or the internet and computers.  

Back then our houses and cars didn’t have any air-conditioning. That really was not so long ago.  Hot, heavy, sweltering days where the ground burns right through your rubber thongs (flip-flops, now a days).  Long, hot nights just waiting for a breeze to come down from the canyons and cool us off.   Lots of evenings with the door and windows all open wide, trying to get a quiver of the tiniest waft of air to move that stifling, muggy air.  Shutting the windows early in the morning to help keep the cool air in as long as we could. 

We didn't use fast food as we do now, so cooking was just adding heat to the fire.   Taco casserole and Tamale pies, and cool cheesecakes were all good memories from that time.

Can you even imagine being a pioneer, on the plains, in the winter with a dugout in highest hump of the flat-lands for your protection or a house made out of dirt sod?    I used to read stories of the pioneers and could not even understand their courage, not to sure that I could do all that they did.  Freezing blizzards or heat and drought and still not much shelter, and self reliance, with hardships beyond measure.

One of most fun times as a child was playing “going across the plains” as pioneers in the “Olden Times”  Lots of fun back then, even lots of western shows, Wagon Train, Rawhide (Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates-my favorite), Bonanza, Fury and so many more.   Idyllic stories of times gone by.  Looking back with perspective tends to leave us with golden memories, but the living through those trials isn’t easy and was the true test.  I guess our times are no different, we all face challenges, just different ones in this day and age.   We are all the pioneers in our own life.

I love living in our times with all the modern technology, improvements to living and the conveniences of our time, right now.   

Just me thinking and reminiscing of times gone by and a happy heart for all those whom came before us, looking ahead, working hard for a better life.   And all those who kept, as my Dad used to say, "Improving on the stock".