When You Were Growing Up Verses Now

I was the oldest of six children. We had no money. The food we had is what we raised or the wildlife we killed. We did not have a cellar but we kept the jars of food that we canned under the hay stack. The hay stack insulated it to keep it from freezing. In winter, the snow would cover the hay stack and it became difficult to get the food. Whatever we could reach is what we had to eat that day.

We had a horse to plow the garden with. We raised a large garden and each of us kids were expected to do our part in working it.  We each had chores and knew we had to do them or we would not have food in winter. We raised our hogs, chickens, cows for milk, horses for working.

We did not have water in the house. We carried our water from a spring under the hill.

We heated the house with our wood cook-stove that was in the kitchen.  At night we took our blanket into the fire to warm it up. When it was warm, we ran to bed and wrapped up in it to keep warm. I remember many mornings when my feet would stick to the floor when I got out of bed.

Most of the time the shoes our cousins gave us were too big so we took pages from the Aldens catalog,wadded them up and put them in the toes so they fit better.

We did not have many clothes, just hand me downs from cousins. I was never in a mall until my senior year in high school. The librarian in our high school was a foster parent of one of my friends. She invited me to go with them to the mall.  I was scared to death to see all the people. I made my own clothes to wear in the beauty pageant when I was 17. I hand made them because I had no sewing machine. I made a pants suit and a evening gown.

We did not have a bathroom. We had an outside toilet. If you had t o go to the toilet at night, we had to have a candle or light because of snakes and  wild animals.

Now that I look back on it, the really odd thing is that we never felt unsafe or unloved or even unhappy.

It was at least a mile to the nearest neighbor.

People did not have four wheel drives to come and go in winter with. Dad just put on the chains and made a run for it until he got where he wanted to go.

Our house did not have insulation in it. We used cardboard from boxed and tacked them on the wall to keep the wind from blowing in as bad.

I remember crying myself to sleep many nights because someone would make fun of my pants being  too short or my shoes being worn out. I remember crying on Easter at school, my friends always got a new outfit for Easter. She always looked so good.

I now realize that I had a wonderful life growing up. My life growing up made me who I am today. For that I am thankful.

There was no time to get bored, there was always something that needed done just to survive. No time to get into trouble.

I would not change any of that way of life though. It taught me to appreciate what I have. It  taught me the value of hard work. It taught me compassion and love for my family.  It taught me that I need Heavenly Father because I cannot manage life alone.

Yes, life is good. It is better each year than it was the year before. Not just with material things but with knowledge and compassion. My goal in this life is "To Be Better Today Than I Was Yesterday".  I like to think I am slowly accomplishing that goal. I have no desire to be better than someone else. I have too much to worry about with myself than to worry about someone else.

What is your goals in life?

Are you better today than you were yesterday?