Maybe it is the small things

My husband I were just talking about growing up and how different our lives were.  He grew up in a small town in the foothills of the mountains.  It was a mill town and everyone worked in the mills.  His house was a very small two bedroom, frame house that sat beside the railroad tracks and behind his Grandmas house.  He was an only child.  His father worked at the electric company a few miles away as an accountant having gone to a UNC two year program on accounting.  His Mom who was 12 years older than him worked third shift in the mills.  She did this so she could put Scott to bed and be home to get him off to school.  She would also bake pies for the local drug store that were sold each morning.  He went to church, walked to the movie and played golf at the little nine hole public golf course across the street.  He was somewhat a loner, being an only child and was always surrounded by adults mostly aunts, uncles.  Everything was a family affair in which parents took their kids.  He also spent a great deal of time at the local pool hall and no it did not corrupt him but gave him a safe place to hang out because everyone knew his Mom and Dad.  He has such happy memories of spending time with his parents, taking vacations together and playing golf with his Dad and just hanging out.  He was not the star athletes (until he became the best golfer in the county) but he was not a scholar-not because he was not smart but he was just not interested.

What he has made me realize though is how different his humble beginnings were from what he and I gave to our own children.  We wanted a better life for them.  We wanted them to have the things we did no have because we thought that was what we were suppose to do..make life better for them than our parents gave to us. But I am now beginning to wonder who really had the most enriched life.  Was it Scott who ate dinner every night with his parents, went on family vacations and had his parents attend all of his events?  Or was it our kids who seldom saw their Dad and rarely had dinner with them.  Who have no memories of family vacations because Daddy always had to work.  Was it Scott who spent time with adults as part of an extended family or was it our kids who did not live near any of their relatives.

As we have talked I think about how we are hearing that this generation of children may be the first ones not to be better off than their parents but what does that really mean.  Does it mean they will not have as many materials things as their parents (our kids)  Does it mean they may have to go to college closer to home or heaven forbid a community college?  Does it mean they may actually live in the same town or even state that they grew up in?

Perhaps there is some good in all of this economic challenge.  Maybe it will give us a chance to sit back and reevaluate our own lives and those we wish for our grandchildren.