For many years, we were a one-car family. My Dad used our car to commute to work, which would leave Mom without transportation during the day. On weekdays, Dad would leave early in the morning and not return home until early evening. Mom tried to have us kids cleaned up and dinner on the table when Dad came home. On Fridays, the daily routine would change. Us kids would get cleaned, dressed and be ready when Dad came home from work. We would first go to the bank where Dad would cash his paycheck, then to Howard Johnson’s for dinner, and after that, we would go to the grocery store for the weeks shopping.
THOUGHTS ON TO D AY A N D T I M E S PA S T by Craig Ruhl Today is the 10th day of April 2020. The world is concerned and affected by a worldwide pandemic involving the virus named COVID-19. All of us have had our lives turned upside down with health concerns and changes to our everyday routines and lifestyles. Many states are under a “shelter in place” or “stay at home” proclamation. It forces the world to make many changes in work, shopping, and family dynamics. As we struggle to acclimate to this alternative way of living, I am reminded of an earlier time when my family’s life was simpler and perhaps less stressful. Lessons learned many years ago still serve us well today. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my sisters and I were blessed to have a mother who did not need to work outside the home. Dad was an aeronautical engineer who made a modest but adequate income that allowed our family to operate as it did. Mom’s full-time job was to take care of our household. Her duties included shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and paying the bills. This was besides raising three young children and caring for her husband, our father. 12 | M AG AEVERY Z I N E N ACORNER ME FAITH ON
As I was growing up, small independent businesses made home deliveries providing many services and products. I remember dairy, meat, bakery, laundry, and home products being delivered to our home. My favorite was the bread man who would pull up in his truck, open the side panel and display an array of bread, pastries, and cakes. Mom would let us kids pick out a treat and then she would make selections according to her weekly menu needs. The local dairy delivered milk and butter products to the door. Most homes had an insulated metal box on the doorstep where the delivery man would leave the products. They would also include a paper order form for us to mark what they needed to leave the next time. Another truck that came by picked up and delivered laundry. Dad’s white dress shirts, tablecloths, and bed linens came back cleaned, starched, and wrapped in brown paper tied in bundles with twine. We washed the rest of the family laundry in the basement and hung it out to dry in the backyard. The local butcher shop and pharmacy had home delivery available. There was also a Fuller Brush delivery truck that came by with all kinds of household cleaning products. The merchants would leave a paper bill with their deliveries and Mom would pay them by check once a month, leaving the envelope at the door for them to pick up the next time they came by. On Sundays, after church, our family would climb in the car along with a picnic lunch Mom had made and we would take a leisurely drive in the countryside. Stopping beside a creek or at
