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07-03-2022 10:10 PM - edited 07-03-2022 10:12 PM
As a kid growing up, for quite a while I thought everyone lived like my family did. Typical for young children.
Then I made a friend who lived in the affluent area of our town. I was invited to her home, which was huge! Really huge! And when the girl took me on a tour of her home, she showed me her father’s bedroom and then her mother’s bedroom. Never heard of that!
I guess a huge house was my significant sign of wealth. As an adult, I realize that once you have enough money to meet reasonable needs, happiness is not measured in money or things.
07-03-2022 10:30 PM
When I was a child and living in New York, my dream of wealth centered around California. I guess I could say it was my own version of "California Dreaming." My father wanted to move there - after all it was the Golden State, a land of opportunity. I pictured the Pacific Ocean, the palm trees, the large homes, Hollywood, famous people, etc. But my mother and sisters were against the move. We had all our relatives in the New York metropolitan area - NY, NJ, and CT. Two of my uncles ended up living in California and I visited them often. I just loved the state, but I am incredibly happy with all the blessings I have had in my life.
07-04-2022 08:20 AM
@Boomernichols wrote:@house_cat Children with all store bought clothes would be my number one indicator. My momma made me clothes from the Butterick , MCCalls or Simplicity patterns and yet they were all sewn with love! I too was rich because of her love and the crafts she made with her own hands just for me!!!!
@Boomernichols I can remember spending many a Saturday afternoon going to the fabric stores with my mom & thumbing through the pattern books that you mentioned. If we were looking for something really fancy, we would also look at the Vogue book, too.
07-04-2022 08:25 AM
Vacations! We never took a vacation and those that did I thought were super rich. Now that I am older, I understand that our car was to small for all of us plus luggage and my dad really did not have time for vacations, he was self employed.
07-04-2022 08:29 AM
@SloopJohnB My mom was a great seamstress, and sewed a lot of our clothes. I can remember a beautiful pink hand smocked dress she made for me...as well as a bathing suit (knitted or crochet) I can not remember which...lets just say that suit never saw the l ight of day. I don't know what posessed me to ask for that suit.
Like you we rarely ate out. My dad loved to tell the story about me ordering chopped steak, thinking it was a real steak, and how disappointed I was when I found out it was not a steak but glorified hamburger. I sure miss my parents, this thread is making be a bit sad this morning.
07-04-2022 08:36 AM
@Scooby Doo wrote:Anybody with a TV better than a 25 inch black and white. And 2 TVs per household!
I went to grade school with a girl who had her own TV in her bedroom. Unheard of at that time.
My best friend, Vanessa, lived in a Victorian near our elementary school. Sometimes I'd go to her house for lunch because her family had a TV built into the kitchen wall.
Didn't take much to impress me as a kid.
If we wanted to watch The Monkees in color we had to go to my sister's friend's apartment. Sharon's parents had a color TV. Zenith, I think.
07-04-2022 08:57 AM
That people actually were able to buy several outfits and pairs of shoes from...wait for it....
the BIG Sears or JC Penney catalogs!!!!
We could not. But we would go thru the pages of clothing and dream of how cool it would be if only we could order those complete outfits!!!
Also...thick, plush wall to wall carpet. We too lived in a home with wood (Parquet!!!!) floors and area carpets, and thought Wall to Wall was super rich!!!
Today...people want wood floors and area rugs! And the floors in our NYC home were beautiful parquet with herrigbone pattern and shined to a high gloss....beautiful...
More than one phone...Central air ( or even a window unit!)...pools...
My parents divorced in 1965. My Dad was an engineer with a big firm, and he got a new shiny company car every two years, with all the bells and whistles....AC, plush interiors, and that new car smell. When he came to visit, our friends thought he ( and we) were rich ( riding around in that high falutin' new car!!!)
The cars he got that I can remember? Slab sided, giant Plymouth Fury 4-doors ( seemed 100 feet long to my 9 year old eyes...) or a Chevrolet Caprice 4 door...or a huge Buick.....look them up ( Late 60's). Giant boulevard barges of the late 60's and early 70s....typical company cars of the period....Bench seats the size of living room couches...
Of interest is that those old thick catalogs are availabe on E bay today....check it out for a trip down memory lane!!! I was 15 in 1971...Prime teenage years....there's a Big Book on Ebay for 15.00. O the memories!!!!
07-04-2022 08:59 AM - edited 07-04-2022 08:59 AM
When I was young in the early 60's, I thought anyone who had a color TV was rich. Also if you were a teen and you had a Princess phone in your bedroom.
07-04-2022 09:13 AM
@Mom2Dogs wrote:@SloopJohnB My mom was a great seamstress, and sewed a lot of our clothes. I can remember a beautiful pink hand smocked dress she made for me...as well as a bathing suit (knitted or crochet) I can not remember which...lets just say that suit never saw the l ight of day. I don't know what posessed me to ask for that suit.
Like you we rarely ate out. My dad loved to tell the story about me ordering chopped steak, thinking it was a real steak, and how disappointed I was when I found out it was not a steak but glorified hamburger. I sure miss my parents, this thread is making be a bit sad this morning.
Yes, it makes me miss my parents more reading & reminiscing, too. My mom sewed just about everything. She made wedding dresses, school uniforms, bathing suits, curtains, doll clothes, boy's jackets, everything. Too bad I couldn't or didn't appreciate it then. @Mom2Dogs
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