Sacrifice [CCR]

Spending time with your children provides many benefits to both the child and you. At least that is my philosophy. So with my daughter about to head out to college and my oldest son hanging around his girlfriend, I am getting my new perspective on life. Even my youngest son is teaching me every day. My parents rarely commented on my life outside the home, but I am sure they had their opinions that evolved from comparison to their own experiences. And so my mind wanders as I sit in the front seat trying to ignore the youthful chatter in the back. My Grandparents would never imagine carrying a cell phone on a date, verifying the latest movies on the computer, or chatting with their friends on video connections.

My trip last night to the skating rink provided some fodder for this education. My memories of the skating rink back home center around time spent in a very large room skating around the floor to the sounds of the seventies while passing your friends. Conversation took place as we skated together. New rules: Skating is the secondary process at the skating rink. I watched my youngest son pay $6.25 for admission and skates to spend about 15 minutes skating and 105 minutes sitting with his friends. To my surprise he walks out of the skating rink with two new telephone numbers. I don’t even have a local telephone number for Ohio and my phone rings off the hook.

I can only imagine my Granddaddy Daily thought the same thing when I drove the car Mom and Dad bought me. He would hear of my trips to Huntsville or Decatur and surely wonder what I was doing. And so the world evolves. But it is always worth the time to sit back and see how we got from there to here.

Granddaddy Daily often told me how he had to leave school at an early age to earn a living. He was quite intelligent, but his knowledge came through diligence and hard work. I could never imagine walking from Mountain Springs to Barton or even Tuscumbia to buy my groceries. He told of walking miles up and down the hills and hollows to spend all day cutting wood and make the return trip at night.

A few years ago I dropped by my Aunt Bertha Webb’s house for a visit during one of my trips home. She had a diary Granddaddy had kept from his young adult days. It seems the diary was a Christmas present. I glanced through the diary and saw many entries discussing how a hunt went or the sermon from the recent Sunday. Looking closely I noticed most of the entries were made in the winter months. As spring approached the entries got more sporadic until they disappeared through the summer months. In the fall they slowly became more prevalent again. It is obvious Granddaddy often fought the elements and went days without work. I can’t imagine the stress.

It seems the advances of society made my life a little easier. But I must remember those advances fell from the sweat of those who preceded me. We should pass these memories to our children lest they forget the sacrifice. I pray our generation has contributed enough to ease our children’s burden for that is the dream of our society. It is a responsibility we cannot take lightly.

On a lighter note, I wrote a few months ago about our vacation at Ghost Town In The Sky. I discussed the demise of the little park and my hope for a future. I have good news. It was recently bought and the new owners plan to restore the park to its previous grandeur and open this spring. I guess I will get another chance to relive delightful memories and pass them along to my children.