Good old days

“What year were you born, Grandma?” Patrick asked.

Patrick was in second grade and his homework assignment was to interview someone born before 1950 to see what their childhood was like. He had chosen to talk to his Grandma after dinner on Sunday.

“I was born in 1943, during World War 2.” Patrick’s Grandma answered.

“Did you go to school?” Patrick asked.

“Yes, I went to school in Mayville.” Grandma said.

“Did you take the school bus?” Patrick asked with a frown. He didn’t like taking the bus to school in the morning. He thought it was smelly.

“No, dear. When I was a little girl most kids walked to school. Only kids that lived very far away got to ride the bus. I had to walk three blocks to school.”

“Well what did you do after school Grandma?” Patrick asked. “Did you watch TV and play video games?”

Patrick’s Grandma laughed. “Of course not. We didn’t have video games back then. My family didn’t even get a TV until I was twelve.”

“No TV?” Patrick said with a gasp. Grandma smiled and said, “Those were the good old days.”

Patrick tried to imagine what life would be like without TV, video games, cell phones, and computers. He wondered why grandma called her past “the good old days.”

Patrick looked confused, and he asked, “What did you do for fun?”

“Well, I read a lot of books. After dinner and homework, sometimes we would listen to the radio while we colored pictures or played card games. On the weekends we mostly rode our bikes and played outside with our friends,”

Just then Patrick’s mom called out from the kitchen. It was time for dessert.

Patrick quickly put down his pencil and paper. They were having fresh baked apple pie with ice cream! He started toward the kitchen but then stopped and looked at his Grandma.

“Grandma, did you have ice cream when you were a kid?” he asked.

“Yes, of course we did”, Grandma answered with a grin.

Patrick smiled. “Then I think the ‘good old days’ were pretty good too.