My Grandma used to tell me I was moody and she was right. There are so many different moods to be in. I have come to the realization that we make our own moods. I went grocery shopping this morning, not my favorite chore I must say. The store was crowded and noisy. They had moved things drastically since the last time I was in there and of course I got frustrated because I couldn't find anything. Nothing was where it should be. Why do they do that anyway. I always was told, If it aint' broke don't fix it. Now who was the smart person that decided to put the dad blasted sour cream up by the butter. It has always been back with the yogurts, cottage cheese, etc.. I liked it there, I was used to it being there, why in the heck move it?!
I got to thinking about the little store where my Mama shopped when I was a kid. Nothing moved there. Everything stayed put. It was a cracker box shaped building made of sheet iron. One isle up the middle, meat box in the back, by the side of a pop machine. The pop machine was like a chest type with bars at intervals across it. Pops were slid in these slots with only the bottle top showing. On the cap was the flavor. Pop Kola, RC Cola, Coke in 6oz. Bottles, Root Beer, Cream soda, Nesbitts Orange,Grape, Strawberry, and on and on. You put in your nickel something triggered and you could slide the bottle of your choice over till you could pull it out then open it with a bottle opener hanging on a cord. On the left side was a candy display case. The candy was all in boxes in the glass front case. No wrappings, just lying open in the boxes. That was penny candy and you could get a candy sack full for a penny. Across from it was the candy bars. Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Zag Nut, Zero, Power House, and they were big. They cost a nickel. On the other side of that isle was shampoos, lotions , Prell Shampoo, Jergens Lotion, and Wildroot Cream Oil hair oil. You could pick all this up yourself and put it on the counter along with your meats and staples. Most of our fruits and vegetables were already at home and home canned. Just a few steps and you are done.
Hall Parks stood behind the counter with a pencil and paper. As you laid your items on the counter he wrote it down and listed the price. When you finished he then licked the lead in the pencil and went down the figures counting in his head as he went, then he would write the total at the bottom. It was always a correct count too because scads of people, including Mama checked it out. No calculator, no adding one column at a time. It was all faster than any store now. No waiting for Price Checks or the blamed machine throwing your credit card back at you.
Well heck fire, it is as plain as the nose on your face why our moods are changing for the worse as we get older. Things are too fast now. Hurry, hurry, hurry. That's it I have decided. We didn't have as much to choose from then, the store was small, no walking for a long time just to find an item that they have moved. No waiting on price checks. No waiting on a stupid machine that wont work. It was not a major endeavor just to buy groceries. Simple, Simple, Simple. That's what the difference is now, nothing is simple any more. No wonder my moods are jumping here and there all the time. My brain is still in 1950 and it is 2015.
Yep! I got it figured out. Times they are a changin' too darn fast. I'm in slow gear trying to function in the fast lane and I'm too old to change now. Heck I don't wanna' strip what gears I've got left! Nope!!!
