The Good Old Days

Thank you Boris for taking me back to those so-called “good old days”.

Hand Me Downs (HMDs)

Children today think that HMDs are things taken from an upper shelf. On the other hand we Depression babies knew these were clothes that had been worn by our older brothers/sisters.

The unfortunate children were the ones where brothers wore items of their older sisters. One case comes especially to mind where a friend was given his older sister’s red rubber boots. Boys would use only brown or black. My friend had to leave the house wearing the red boots, but took them off when he got around the corner. His shoes and socks were always soaking wet. He wouldn’t stand the embarrassment from the older boys of ever wearing those red girl’s boots. He hid them in his lunch bag.

When we had a hole in the sole of our shoes, we slid in a piece of cardboard. And when that wore out, we just put in another one. Today the children just toss their tennis shoes and get another hundred-dollar pair.

In those days having your own bed was a luxury and your own bedroom was only for rich people. Even only two in a bed was considered good. What do kids today know about sleeping tsu fusns? I still can remember being awakened at night by a kick. The worst part was when one of the twins did not have his toenails cut!

Mama’s rule of the house was, “If you put it on your plate, you finish it.” Your plate was always empty at the end. If a slice of bread fell on the floor, you brushed it off kissed it and ate it. If you did that, supposedly G-d took care of the germs.

Mama always sewed the holes in socks. Today, ladies and gentlemen do you remember the last time you did it?

Remember when there were very few parts of the chicken that weren’t eaten? The neck, gizzard, (pupik) liver, heart, feet, wings, shmalts, and little yolks were all eaten.