Tell Me About The Good Old Days

TELL ME ‘BOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS

By Kathy Polich

II was sitting in the drive-up at Route 66 Diner waiting for my breakfast burrito, scanning radio channels.

One of my all-time favorite groups came on. I was immediately in 1985, and Wynonna and her momma were singing:

Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days) by The Judds Grandpa, tell me ‘bout the good old days

Sometimes it feels like this world’s gone crazy And Grandpa, take me back to yesterday When the line between right and wrong

Didn’t seem so hazy

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other, come what may? Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say and then forget Did families really bow their heads to pray

Did daddies really never go away? Oh, Grandpa, tell me ‘bout the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast We call it progress, but I just don’t know

And Grandpa, let’s wander back into the past And pain st me the picture of long ago

For a few seconds, my brain scanned a ton of memories. It was like watching a video in fast forward. I thought about seeing the Judds on Johnny Carson when I was in mid-school. I recalled the three times I had seen them in concert. I smiled to myself when I briefly thought about my dad at his first and only big concert. My dad had a thing for Naomi. He was a railroader and had worked the entire night and all day right up to when we had to leave Belen to make it to the Pit in Albuquerque. I thought he was going to miss it. It was a huge feat to get him to agree to go. Long before buying tickets online, I had spent the night in line at a Ticketmaster to score 2nd-row seats for the Judd’s Farewell tour. My tired hilly-billy dad fell asleep during the opening acts of Mark Chestnutt and Vince Gil. At least that’s who I think the opening was. When the house lights came on for them to fix the stage for the main event, he popped up and yelled, “Did I miss her?!”

“Settle down, dad! Your girl is coming out soon!”

After the concert, I can remember my mom rolling her eyes when he dreamily said, “She was so close I could smell her perfume!”

Just like that, I came back into the present and focused on the lyrics. But as soon as I heard the word grandpa, back to the old memories I went.

I can remember joking with my grandpa when the song came out in 1985. I would ask him to tell me about the good old days. He would shake his fist at me and, with a twinkle in his eye, say something along the lines of, “I’ll send you back to the good old days!” My grandpa’s been gone for over ten years now. I couldn’t help but wonder what he would think about 2020 and the start of 2021. I guess I have a pretty good idea what his opinion would be on most things. Thank goodness I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and listened to their stories. My million and one memories of them give me a glimpse of what they would be thinking.

Now, back to the lyrics. I listened to the end of the song and replayed the words in my head. Wow, what a completely different piece to me. My grandpa’s gone, the world’s gone crazy, and as documented in my divorce decree, daddies do go away. Well, at least to a different house a few miles across town. I asked myself, would I want to wander back into the past? Here is the thing; that is a definite hard NO! I’ve read enough books and spent countless hours watching historical dramas to be one hundred percent full of gratitude that the Divine saw fit to plant me in the good old US of A in the here and now. I mean, logically think about this. We are at a time in history where vast amounts of people are thriving.

World poverty rates are at an all-time low. I’ve read some estimates that in the 1400s around 70% of people were extremely poor and if you lived to be 42 you had lived a long life! The world poverty rate is around 9.2%, and the average lifespan is 72 years. So Wynonna, yes, lovers did fall in love to stay because they didn’t have to be married for half a century! I don’t have to hunt or gather my food. Although, in my family, we do both on a small scale. I don’t have to build a fire in my cook stove, even on a hot summer day, to make bread. I shower daily. I can use a cell phone to call my best friend or send her pics and jokes via text. I can Google the answer to just about any question I have. As hard as life is right now, pandemic and all, I stand in gratitude and awe for each day I’m here. I’m thankful to those that came before me and did the hard work. I hope they forgive us now for taking it all for granted!

If you’re stuck in the nostalgia of the past, take an objective look and be grateful you aren’t a princess in the Tudor Dynasty of England. You probably would have had to marry your cousin, lock your sister up in a tower, give birth to twelve children, kill your father for the crown, and attend your funeral by age 42. If you are here today, it’s because tens of thousands of your ancestors made some tough decisions. I guarantee if you’ve done enough family genealogy, you’ll figure out your past is littered with beggars, thieves, and some upstanding folks. Maybe this would be a great time in history to forgive and forget. I’m not going to hold you accountable for what your eight times grandpa did to mine. I think every generation does the best they can. Be real careful when you’re painting your picture of long ago that you aren’t setting the next generation up to fail!

I hit the scan button on the radio again and I took a bite of my red breakfast burrito. Take it Easy was playing. And just like that, I went down the rabbit hole of Eagle’s song memories! Maybe a story for another time...............