A Quick Memory and Thought

Sandwiches were unknown to me, except for picnics, until I lived on my own. Mom was from a small town background where men came home for dinner at noon. A hot meal was the expectation. Dad, of course, continued this pattern. We always lived close enough to the schools where he taught that he could walk home within minutes. So could we. I loved it. As I left each morning, my sisters and I made our beds, but otherwise the house was messy. When I returned home for dinner, it was bright, clean, and shiny...And our meal was ready...meat, potatoes - boiled, mashed, riced - and an overcooked vegetable, then dessert. We all sat around our arborite table and visited for a few minutes, then Dad was up to watch the noon news with Walter Cronkite. Right after, Mom switched the station to The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show and listened to the very end - right to the time he always closed with a hymn - the only way I became familiar with gospel songs....I would go off to afternoon classes with these in my mind, and wonder whether they were not an important part of God softening my heart in anticipation of my conversion several years later...Early television did have some wonderful shows!... Makes me wonder again where Mom is right now. She certainly did love the hymns she had learned from her Methodist/United Church background. How I hope God did bring her into port shortly before she died!