Really, It’s Nothing New!

The eggs of the modern times. Never the less, pretty pastels.

You’ve heard me say it before, “Times change and we with time.” This past holiday weekend I noticed I didn’t see not one Easter bonnet at church. Bonnets were always a big deal once upon a time, as was buying the new clothing to be worn on that special Sunday morning. Patten leather shoes and bonnets for us girls and a white shirt and tie for brother. Today, it’s much more a casual dress, but even so, the celebration is what’s most important.

At our dinner—plates heaped full of delicious food—my daughter did have the ham I described last week only she had it spiral sliced since she doesn’t own an electric knife. Does anyone these days? I’m wondering who out there still has an electric knife? Lol. And with that, we didn’t have to fuss with “who was going to carve the ham.” At the dinner table a selfie photo was taken with a cell phone. Truly up to modern times isn’t it!

Truth is, we think this is something new—selfies that is, but really it isn’t. I remember, perhaps you can too, when we had cameras with a built in timer. It was quite an exciting moment. I didn’t have a tripod for my camera to rest on but a table and some of those old-fashioned 6” phone books stacked up a mile high caught the corner of the room, or the sofa we would all flock to for that family photo. The camera owner would set the timer, then scurry over to the group with their smiles all ready set for that glorious moment when it automatically snapped in ten seconds or less, for the picture. Of course, bummer was, you couldn’t look at it immediately. You had to wait for the film to be developed by sending it off in the mail or dropping it off at CVS or somewhere to be picked up later that week.

This little baby Savannah is now 2.
“Happy Easter,” she said to everyone.

Modern times thinks it has one over on the older generation with the use of cell phones where one is capable of showing pictures immediately and have the capabilities of instantly deleting and taking it again if it didn’t turn out right or someone had their eyes closed.

But, truth is, that’s nothing new. We had that back in the day too. I can still remember my Uncle Bill Fender coming in proudly sporting his new camera. A Polaroid. He opened it up, snapped a picture and then after the loud, deafening noise of the ejection of the picture, he held in his hand what would be a developing picture. Seems he had to count, and then peal a layer of paper off of the picture card, wave it in the air then as if a magician, we watched as the picture became clearer and clearer. And sure enough, right before our eyes, was a lovely Polaroid moment. Wow! It was so exciting.

So Here’s the Thing: At the Easter egg hunt in the churchyard last Sunday, perhaps I got a glimpse to the value of a bonnet. The wind was howling around the corner. Ladies who wore a dress had to hold it down and their lovely hairdos became quite the mess! I mean a real mess! A bonnet in that moment would have been pretty helpful, indeed. Never the less, it didn’t take away from the celebration, or joy of watching those wee little legs running in the grass and remembering my own and my children’s Easter egg hunts of the past, which of course, truly is the main thing. Taking Joy! In the moment.

P.S. My Author’s Book Launch Party is scheduled May 6^th,at the Bardwell Winery. My dream came true after all. More details on my Take Joy! Facebook page. More info and my blog found at http://www.sherryphillipsmitchell.com