Prunes with Pits

Prunes were always a steady part of our diet when I was growing up. Mother would bring a pot of prunes to boil in some water and let them simmer a while until they were soft and juicy. They always had the pit. There was no choice of pitted or unpitted. I don't know when the stores quit selling prunes with pits, but I can't remember when I've seen them. You can buy store brand or several name brands, in a bag or a can, but they come without pits. I didn't think that much about it until this week when I ate a can of the most delicious prunes, juicy like my mother always fixed them. And then, I found one lone prune with a pit! In that I grew up with pits in prunes, I guess I wasn't surprised and didn't bite into it by mistake.

This rather insignificant incident made me start thinking about all the things that have changed in my lifetime. Sure, there are the major changes such as computers, missiles to the moon, and central air conditioning, not to mention cellphones and televisions without antennas. However, many of the changes probably are never missed unless someone or something reminds us of it, such as eating a prune with a pit.

I know for me some things I have kept the same, such as I still cook with a pressure cooker, the one that was a wedding gift in 1964. I prefer to make tea with Lipton's loose tea rather than a teabag. I use the same potato peeler, and nothing grinds meat like my meat grinder that you turn by hand. It makes the best chicken salad or ham salad.

Who misses party lines? Who misses Person to Person phone calls? My daddy would stand by the phone when we called long distance. We had three minutes; then we'd have to hang up as it was just too expensive to talk very long on these long distance calls.

Probably very few women particularly long for the days of garter belts and hosiery with seams. However, in many ways, it was probably more comfortable and definitely healthier than the tight crotch in the pantie of pantie hose. Stocking that you used with garter belts were more economical. At least you had two stockings to ruin before you lost the whole thing. With pantie hose, a run in one stocking and that's it. You throw them away, unless you are like me. I have always mended them if possible either by stitching the run when it first begins or painting the run with clear nail polish.

I'm sure there is no doubt that we are better off today with our technology and ways of preventing and healing illness. The early window air conditioners were better than the heat of a hot summer's night, but a long way from being really comfortable. They were always slightly damp even in the dry heat outdoors. A computer definitely beats typing an entire script over by hand and typing carbon copies. Who in their right mind ever enjoyed typing a term paper with a carbon copy if you wanted a copy of the original. Erasures on the copy were not an easy feat as the paper might slip; and when you retyped the word, it would be out of line with the rest of the words.

What I find interesting as I get older, now on number sixty-six in my life, is that from a very early age, everything was modern. It was the newest latest thing of its time so I never felt as though I was deprived because I didn't have a computer or I had to type term papers on a manual typewriter. I was thrilled when I got my first stereo as that was the latest. No, I didn't miss an ipod, nor do I today because I've never had one. I still play records with a turn table, though I must say cd's are a vast improvement over tapes and records as far as finding the song you want to play. However, I don't think you can't beat the sound quality of the turn table and records.

I would think that those of us who are over sixty could probably do with less and not miss it. I could adjust to most changes, but I must admit, I would hate to give up e-mail or the Internet. However, the one thing about being human is we do adapt; otherwise, we might still be living in a cave or for that matter, extinct. Maybe we should all take a week without any of the technology or modern conveniences just to see how we survive. Maybe that's why we have storms, a forced period without technology, a test to see if we can survive without what we think we have to have to live even one day.