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Nineteen Seventy Something

April 18, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 6 Comments

Looking toward Cottonwood Corner

I grew up in Nineteen Seventy Something. I know I sound extraย old when I reminisce about myย good old days, but hey, I’ve been somewhatย immersed in that time period. Writing a book will do that. The Delta is an interesting place for me. It’s the place I feel comfortable and at home, the place that fits me and knows me best. For so long it was my entire worldโ€”our house on Highway 140, that yard my sister and I mowed every single week, those fields that represented our livelihood, our clouds floatingย above it all.

Change in technology and social culture sort of sneak up on us. I notice the differenceย most vividly when I’m home in the Delta because that’s where life was so simple and basic in the beginning.

1970 something.
I remember working on my cartwheels in the front yard while waiting and waiting and waiting for WHBQ to play my favorite song on the radio. And I knew the moment I turned off my radio, my song would play next! That’s exactly how thingsย worked back then.

I had this radio…

my 1970s radio

photo from morgueFile

 

Somehow I think we’ve lost something now that we canย Shazam a song and download it in an instant. Of course I love Shazaming a song and downloading it in an instant (and I don’t miss that radio in the least), but still…there was a certain spirit involved in spending weeks and weeks trying toย understand a certain song lyric and not being able toย play it on repeat.

Am I the only person who thoughtย the lyrics to Blinded By the Light included “wrapped up like a douche”? (I had no idea what douche meant, but I thought it had to do with s-e-x and wouldn’t sing that word veryย loud.)

Yesterday wasย my sister’s birthday. She’s 51. In a few days, my cousin Lesa turns 52, and for a few months, I’ll still be 53. When we were kids, during those few months we felt even closer than normal, and it was a fun thing, our stair step ages. We had soooo many adventures growing up together, and yes we played board games and barbie dolls, but mostly we played outsideโ€”rain or shine, cold or hot. No matter.

growing up like I did

We had lots of unusual and imaginative playgrounds and left many a footprint in the washed out gullies along Little River. Trailers of freshly picked cotton? Those were the best for tunneling and tumbling. The stuffy attic made a secret hideout lit only by the sun slippingย through the eaves. Aunt Virgie’s chicken coop was a favorite too, shady and cool on a blistering summer day. And how about a simple fort made of freshly laundered sheets pulled straight from the clothesline? Easy, uncomplicated, I wanna go back, if only for a little while.

In Nineteen Seventy Something evenย searching for answers was a treasure hunt.ย The easiestย (and less reliable) method was to poll friends on the playground. Webster was a good source, too, and everyone had at least one dictionary in the house. If the dictionaryย didn’t provide enough information, encyclopedias usually knew all. Beyond that, the card catalog provided the ultimate research tool with every scrap of knowledge organized on individual cards in alpha, subject, and author order. And when none of that worked, the simplest solution was to ask the librarian for help.

Librarians held every answer in their brains and what they didn’t know, they knew how to find.

encyclopedias

Each summer day we awoke with only one questionโ€”what will we do today? And while our world didn’t extend much beyond ourย own cotton fields and rarely beyond Mississippi County, in so many ways it was bigger and grander because of our unlimited imaginations and the excitement we added to it.

Every day broughtย adventure.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]I grew up in 19 Seventy Something. Wanna go back with me? #reminisce #Delta #farmgirl[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Blinded by the Light

and

Mark Wills, 19 Seven Somethin’

Filed Under: Family, Life, Memories, Simple Pleasures Tagged With: childhood, family memories, growing up, memories, Mississippi County

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Comments

  1. Barbara Tate says

    April 18, 2016 at 9:00 am

    This brought back lots of memories for me. I too played in the gullies of Little River with my closest cousin, Betty Gail Kennedy. We also went up and down the river in Uncle Woody’s boat. (I can’t believe my mother and Aunt Rena let us do that.). We also went swimming in Little River. Cousins were very important “in the day”, and they were out first playmates.

    Reply
    • Shelly Johnson says

      April 18, 2016 at 11:54 am

      Really enjoyed reading your blog today.

      Reply
  2. Dorothy Johnson says

    April 19, 2016 at 9:59 am

    Good post. It made me nostalgic for the 50s and early 60s. What freedom we enjoyed.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      April 20, 2016 at 6:22 pm

      Yes we did… Thanks friend.

      Reply
  3. Cathyv says

    June 18, 2016 at 11:28 am

    Lovely. You speak my language.

    Reply
  4. Kassie says

    December 2, 2016 at 4:26 am

    Pรƒยกrszor lรƒยกttam mรƒยกr az รƒยผrรƒยญtรƒยฉs pillanatait (tรƒยถbbek kรƒยถzรƒยถtt itt is, egy anbm)ยกciรƒยณianรƒ, de azt nem gondoltam volna, hogy annyira รƒยผgyesek, hogy a lรƒยกbukra is rรƒยก tudjรƒยกk lร…โ€˜ni ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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