I grew up reading the Little House books. Laura Ingalls appreciated the small figurine or new fabric for a dress that she’d wear daily for a few years before she’d get a new one. Money wasn’t a common thing to have and it didn’t seem to matter much. Sure, she envied Nellie Olson’s dresses and candy but she was happy. Her toys were were small and few, handmade by pa. Entertainmant was books, not TV and computers. Today I question whether I need to bring my laptop if I go away for the weekend, and feel like I’m roughing it if I just take my Kindle and smartphone.

The Ingalls grew and raised their food, even selling farm foods. I don’t remember anyone but the mom preparing the food, so it wasn’t easy to just grab something from the refrigerator (or back then, ice box).

Heck I even remember growing up with candy and cookies as a holiday treat not something that I expected every day. True, some of my classmates may have had access to sugary treats and cereals but for me, they weren’t common. My mother kept a box or two of small candies hidden on the top shelf in the kitchen cabinet and occasionally a six pick of soda for when company came over but not for consumption by me. Of course when I got older I’d steal the candy occasionally and replace it by buying more from my allowance money. Generally candy and soda were not a monthly, certification mainly not daily thing. I had a few friends who had soda at their birthday parties so I assume they had access to it on a regular basis but for me I had soda only on the rare occasion s that I was at fast food restaurants or at the yearly family picnic. I remember going to a sleepover birthday party and having Hostess cakes for breakfast. Wow, I’d never had that and certainly not for breakfast.

I do remember the Pop Shoppe which was a store that sold all kinds of flavors of cheap soda. Somehow my mother thought this was a good deal and we got some. The bottles were heavy and study unlike today’s plastic bottles. A quick Google search shows that it was a Canadian company that crossed overhead Ito the US and was phased out in 1983.

Anyway, do we really need all this extra stuff? Life seemed so much simpler 100 years ago. Harder but fewer choices and pressures. Storms is what they feared, not terrorist attacks.