There are times when old memories just pop up for no particular reason. I was just riding along yesterday when the television show Mayberry RFD came to mind. I don't know what made me think of that, maybe a road sign or an old tractor, as I was driving through farm land. It was a rural area, well I live in a rural area. Did you know RFD stands for Rural Free Delivery? That's what they called it when the mailman brings the mail to your mailbox, you know, in a rural area. When I was little we had RFD after the post office gave us that choice. At first we had to rent a post office box in town, then the town got crowded and those post office boxes fewer. The solution was to deliver the mail " RFD " to those that requested it. I remember Dad putting up the mailbox at the end of our dirt road saying why should I pay for a box in town, can get it here for free. After that, the only cost was leaving a little something for the mail carrier at Christmas time, well up until they said we couldn't do that anymore. The carriers were forbidden from accepting that. Guess some weren't as popular as others and they complained.
Anyway, I asked my wife if she remembered that show and she only remembered hearing the title. I remembered very little about it, just that it wasn't Andy and Opie. I thought it was the same actor that played Captain Palamer on F-troop. Do you remember that show? Filled with stereotypes and innuendo it would make liberals heads explode today. I found it amusing not knowing the effect it would have on me later, you know instilling systemic racism into my sleeping consciousness, I wasn't " woke " yet. LOL, it was just a silly show, like watching road runner cartoons, I didn't believe any of that was real. Well, there were ACME companies out there but they sold hair brushes, not bombs and rockets. I do miss television sitcoms like those. Just simple entertainment. Different times for sure. A time when the good in humanity was emphasized with little life lessons. Even those silly shows like F-troop did that, or Hogans Heroes. Today there would be protests about being insensitive to POW's or Nazi's. There was another show, one my Dad particularity enjoyed, 12 O'Clock high. It was about flying B-17 bombers in WW2. My Dad had flown in B-24 bombers during that war and would relate tails about that to us kids when the show was on. He would point out what was right or wrong. I don't remember much about the show really, I wasn't that interested in it. But Dad controls the channel, I was the remote turning it to one of the two available channels! He didn't have to say, turn it to channel three, just turn the channel. Much simpler times.
Just old memories that drift back in our minds likes clouds in the sky. Sometimes the clouds part and the light shines through. The memories are always there, like the sun, it is just that sometimes you can't see them. It's fun when they appear like that. Nostalgia is a warm feeling, remembering the good and dismissing the bad. I have lots of good memories of watching that old black and white television, and my earliest memories are in black and white. You know it wasn't until the early 1970's that color television sets outsold black and white ones. My own boys never saw a black and white set until I bought them one for Christmas. It was one of those small portable ones, you could plug it into the cigarettes lighter in the car, you know now called the power port. On Christmas morning they took it into their bedroom, setting it up. In a short time they came out to tell me it was broken! What, what's wrong with it? They didn't know, but it didn't have any color in it. I expect their oldest memories are in technicolor. Nowadays it'll be a flat screen with surround sound in the families home theater streaming movies on Netflix. Ah well, it'll still be nostalgic to them and they will enjoy their memories, hopefully as much as I enjoy mine. That's what memories are, saved up happiness to be used in the future. A happiness that never disappoints. My old memories never have and I'm still saving more for tomorrow. Might remember them then, or some other day.
Anyway, I asked my wife if she remembered that show and she only remembered hearing the title. I remembered very little about it, just that it wasn't Andy and Opie. I thought it was the same actor that played Captain Palamer on F-troop. Do you remember that show? Filled with stereotypes and innuendo it would make liberals heads explode today. I found it amusing not knowing the effect it would have on me later, you know instilling systemic racism into my sleeping consciousness, I wasn't " woke " yet. LOL, it was just a silly show, like watching road runner cartoons, I didn't believe any of that was real. Well, there were ACME companies out there but they sold hair brushes, not bombs and rockets. I do miss television sitcoms like those. Just simple entertainment. Different times for sure. A time when the good in humanity was emphasized with little life lessons. Even those silly shows like F-troop did that, or Hogans Heroes. Today there would be protests about being insensitive to POW's or Nazi's. There was another show, one my Dad particularity enjoyed, 12 O'Clock high. It was about flying B-17 bombers in WW2. My Dad had flown in B-24 bombers during that war and would relate tails about that to us kids when the show was on. He would point out what was right or wrong. I don't remember much about the show really, I wasn't that interested in it. But Dad controls the channel, I was the remote turning it to one of the two available channels! He didn't have to say, turn it to channel three, just turn the channel. Much simpler times.
Just old memories that drift back in our minds likes clouds in the sky. Sometimes the clouds part and the light shines through. The memories are always there, like the sun, it is just that sometimes you can't see them. It's fun when they appear like that. Nostalgia is a warm feeling, remembering the good and dismissing the bad. I have lots of good memories of watching that old black and white television, and my earliest memories are in black and white. You know it wasn't until the early 1970's that color television sets outsold black and white ones. My own boys never saw a black and white set until I bought them one for Christmas. It was one of those small portable ones, you could plug it into the cigarettes lighter in the car, you know now called the power port. On Christmas morning they took it into their bedroom, setting it up. In a short time they came out to tell me it was broken! What, what's wrong with it? They didn't know, but it didn't have any color in it. I expect their oldest memories are in technicolor. Nowadays it'll be a flat screen with surround sound in the families home theater streaming movies on Netflix. Ah well, it'll still be nostalgic to them and they will enjoy their memories, hopefully as much as I enjoy mine. That's what memories are, saved up happiness to be used in the future. A happiness that never disappoints. My old memories never have and I'm still saving more for tomorrow. Might remember them then, or some other day.
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