Simpler Times

Close your eyes for three minutes and you will miss main street in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania.

I grew up in rural areas and this town is no different than the past three towns I've lived near. No matter. We don't mind the small town life at all. True, you need to drive twenty minutes to the nearest Walmart and 1/2 hour to the closest hospital or liquor store.

I don't drink much liquor, and Walmart isn't my favorite hangout.

These days you can have everything you need shipped right to your door. Most of my Christmas shopping is done online because I hate crowds and despite planning on going and getting ready, as soon as I cross the threshold I wish I was out the doors already.

Life has changed so much in the past 40 years that I struggle to imagine how this world got so complex.

What did we do before cell phone shopping? I remember Sears Catalogs. How exciting it was when one showed up in the mail. My brother and me would pour over the contents page by page and look at the shiny bikes and dolls. We knew we would get one nice gift and some small toys to open. I'd hope that I'd get my favorite toy. One year it was the Easy Bake Oven. I spent hours baking with the little light bulb. Another year I wanted a dog desperately. We couldn't have a real dog so my parents bought a large stuffed German shepherd dog. I took that dog everywhere. Later when I was married I bought Sasha, my husky, who looked remarkably like that stuffed dog in her coloring.

Life has moved on and commercialism is rampant. Kids these days seem to be dissatisfied if they don't get the expensive, flashy gifts on TV and the internet. The grandkids own Nintendo Switch, Wii and computers and aren't older than ten years old.

I think that somehow they are missing out greatly on the small things we enjoyed because the world is speeding them up to want more, bigger and better.

Maybe a stroll down our little main street is just the ticket to slow things down.

SRC Vintage EasyBake Oven on EBay

This is my five minute freewrite using prompt main street.
Check out @mariannewest daily prompts and join in with @freewritehouse for opportunities to win Steem Basic Income weekly!