That was then. This is now.

[cornermouse]

That was then.

Walking down a grass covered alley in the 50s on a rainy day in my little raincoat and galoshes. Looking the ditch over carefully to try to determine if the water running in the ditch is too deep or if I can step in it and find out what it feels like to wade in water that nearly covers my galoshes only to find that sooner or later I have stepped into an unseen hole and now have water gushing over the top in all over my shoes inside.

This is now.

Squishing, sloshing, and wading around the edge of a waterlogged pasture in my tennies trying to see if any limbs have fallen onto and are pulling down the fence. The pond is so full that it is now running across the pasture. Heck, there’s been so much rain that almost the whole pasture has running water on it. We now have as much rain as we normally get over an entire year and we still have half the year to go. I guess farmers are eventually going to stop raising corn and start raising water crops like rice or cranberries.

That was then.

Storm water ditches used to be above ground and were great places for in town kids to wade in, hunt for snails for their aquarium, and hunt small frogs just because. They were great places to do limited nature study.

This is now.

Storm water ditches have evolved into underground storm water drains. They’re dark, dangerous, and it would appear that they sometimes include sewage from the neighborhood.

That was then.

Getting together with the neighborhood kids for a game of softball in the street. First and third bases were cracks in the curb. Second base was anything that we could find to stick out in the middle of the street that wasn't likely to blow away. Getting out of the way of the occasional car driving slowly through the neighborhood.

This is now.

Imagine kids trying to play softball in the street with house windows nearby and cars speeding through neighborhoods. Ain't gonna happen. They have Wii, computers, all sorts of electronics and yet they're missing out on a lot. And then there's the fact that we expect them to grow up sooner than we did. I wonder why?

That was then.

Even though my mother was extremely protective and knew where we were or where we were supposed to be at all times (no small feat when you’re talking about 8 kids), we were still allowed to walk downtown to the public library to check out books and walk several blocks over to the candy store on the highway without fear of kidnapping and murder.

This is now.

When out in public, I kept my kids in sight or supervised by adults at all times. The same thing applies today with my grandchild. Anything else is not safe and taking a chance with the life of someone you love. Too many uncaught predators.

That was then.

Riding down the highway in the back seat with my mom or dad at the wheel and the window rolled down, occasionally putting my hand out the window and “feeling” or testing the aerodynamics of flight by tilting my hand against the wind rushing past the car, occasionally catching the smell of wildflowers growing in the ditch or the sound of a bird on the telephone wire at the side of the road. Driving down a gravel road in the summer and watching the dust billow up behind the car. In spite of the fact that there was no air conditioning in the car I didn’t feel the heat. I was too busy enjoying the ride and the countryside.

This is now.

Driving down the highway with windows up so that the car is more aerodynamic and hopefully using less gas while running the air conditioner. (Yeah, I know that’s not the way that works but I keep hoping) Kids in the back seat strapped into their kid seats with the door locked from the driver's seat for their safety. I feel distanced from the countryside that I drive through. Gravel roads have become an oddity. The norm is blacktop. Since blacktop tends to attract and retain heat one wonders if all those gravel roads have contributed to the global warming that may kill us.

That was then.

In spite of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War, and the belief that Russia was poised to attack us momentarily, we managed to have a pretty carefree and happy childhood.

This is now.

Things look worse today than what our parents had to deal with. Outsourcing the cause of crushing unemployment, Bush’s war without end, treasury emptied out via no-bid contracts to Bush’s cronies, economy crashing, lack of access to health care, and the possibility of extermination through global warming and/or disease, both exotic and common. Kids have a childhood? God forbid. We're too busy trying to push them into being minature adults. You have to wonder what kind of "then" we're creating from our kids and what kind of "now" they have in their future. That is. If they even have a future.

[trof]

1. You write that?

It's good.
Our city will cover your ditch if you just pay for the culvert pipe.
Folks want a nice level front yard out to the street.
Easier to mow, ya know.
Looks 'nice'.

But there's no way an enclosed culvert pipe will carry the same amount of storm runoff that an open ditch will.
And the grass in the ditch filters out a lot of the crap that otherwise winds up out in the bay.
I tell 'em and I preach, but I don't make much of a dent.
:-(

[cornermouse]

2. What are your childhood memories?

And how does your childhood compare to your children's childhood?

[trof]

3. Gotta split for now.

I'll answer later.
Good/interesting question.
BTW, I'm 67.
You?