Grandpa, Tell Me 'Bout the Good Ol Days

On Sunday I attended funeral services at our church for a gentleman that I greatly respected.  While sitting in the fellowship hall after the service, I had an interesting conversation with the preacher who performed the service.  He asked me if we were still milking cows and if we still had chickens and goats.

He told me that it reminded him of his childhood.  He had a smile on his face as he began reminiscing.  Here's what he told me in his words (not mine):

"I remember when I was young and having to wake up early in the morning.  My brother and I would walk to the barn and each hand milk a cow before going to school.  We had to milk them again in the afternoon after school.  My Daddy taught us to work hard.  We had a large garden (a field, really) that we would grow our own food.  Daddy taught us how to hook up a plow to a mule and plow the garden." 

"We raised hogs and always had two of them.  Daddy told us that hogs are greedy and if you had two of them, they would compete for the food with the other and they would grow faster.  I remember Daddy would watch for when the first cold front was coming.  The night before, we'd stack firewood underneath a big cast iron pot and fill it with water.  The next morning, we'd wake up before daylight and start the fire.  We'd stand around the fire until it was daylight and Daddy would shoot the hogs and drag them to the table.  The hogs would be scalded and gutted."

"I can still remember Momma walking down the road from the house with a dress on.  Against her hip, she was carrying a big white porcelain bowl with a red ring around it.  She wanted the first pork roast.  Daddy would cut it off and put it in her bowl and Momma would walk back to the house.  We had pork roast for supper that night and it was so good!"

"One of the last things Daddy told us before he died was, "I worked you boys so hard.  I'm so sorry.  I just wanted you to know how to do things.  There may be a day coming where the most important thing you can do is know how to put food on the table for your family.  I've given you some land, boys.  Don't ever sell your land.  With 20 acres you have enough land to take care of you and your family.""

It's me again.  I could have sat there all evening listening.  The good old days.  Work was hard, but the family ties were strong and the bonds of love were deep.  Memories were cherished, work ethic instilled.  Even though the gentleman telling me the stories wasn't near old enough to be my grandpa.  It reminded me of the simple message in The Judd's song, "Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days."  Click the arrow below to listen.  I've also posted the lyrics below:

Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Sometimes it feels like this worlds gone crazy

Grandpa, take me back to yesterday

When the line between right and wrong

Didn't seem so hazy

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other, come what may

Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say

Did families really bow their heads to pray

Did daddies really never go away

Oh, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast

We call it progress, but I just don't know

And grandpa, Let's wander back into the past

And paint me the picture of long ago

(Repeat)

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other come what may

Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say and then forget

Did families really bow their heads to pray

Did daddies really never go away

Oh, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Oh, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

A nice, but melancholy song, lamenting modern times when things seem to have gone off the rails.  I'm with you, Naomi and Wynonna.  We call it progress, but I just don't know...