Tuesday 4 and More..."Looking Back"

 Good Morning Friends...I was a bit "awol" yesterday...been dealing with some health issues and finally went to the doctor. Praise God! I do NOT have the big ugly C-virus, but have had a bad sore throat and sinusitis this past weekend. Now I am on antibiotics and hopefully this too shall pass. My hubby has also been sick all last week with bronchitis, and he is finally on the mend as well.  So we just want to give thanks to God for His comfort and healing.   

So now it is Tuesday and time for Tuesday 4..., so buckle up and here we go:

Looking back...

Hello friends and once again welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. I am so happy to have people joining in and making this so much fun.

"I am listening to a nostalgic music channel right now with songs of the 40's and it made me think that perhaps we could discuss some
nostalgia here. I hope you will enjoy thinking about these questions this week." (per Annie, our hostess)


1. What music were your parents listening to when you were a kid? Does that music bring back memories for you?

My parents loved the music of the 40's, since they met and were married in the early 40's.  They loved the Big Band Era, and always loved to listen to Guy Lombardo on New Year's Eve. Of course, every Saturday night we all had to watch the "Lawrence Welk" show on TV. They loved all of that music, and I enjoyed it too, actually. My father had quite a big record collection, and as he got older you could often find him in his special room, which was also his "Train Room" for his toy train collection, playing records while he worked on his trains. 

My Dad in his train room, showing off his train collection to my grandson Noah and my son Matthew.

My parents both loved music of all kinds. My mother had played a violin in her school orchestra, and then she took violin lessons again after she retired.  She was never what you would consider really really good at it, but she enjoyed playing and that is what mattered most. She also became their church choir director when she retired. And my Dad always sang in the choir as well as in Barber Shop Quartets/chorus. So yes, I heard all kinds of music in our home growing up. And yes, if I hear something that I know they loved, it definitely brings back happy memories.


2. What was your favorite meal and beverage as a teenager? Is it still or have things changed for you?

My mother in her kitchen, cooking up something good I am certain!

Gosh, I don't remember any particular favorite meal. Anything with mashed potatoes and gravy. I had two big older brothers who played football, and I used to try and eat as much as they did! I was always trying to impress them somehow I guess. Typical little baby sister.  LOL. My mother was a good cook and anything she cooked was good to me.  Beverage: My least favorite beverage was milk, unless it had chocolate in it.  We didn't drink iced-tea very often back then, so if it wasn't milk, it was probably water. However, I know I loved Root Beer and Root Beer Floats, or even a Coke Float. I didn't drink a lot of sodas, but when I did it was usually one of the above, or orange soda. As for today, I still love mashed potatoes and gravy with most any kind of roast or chicken. And I still don't like milk. I usually drink water with my meals, or unsweet iced tea. I rarely drink any kind of soda anymore, but occasionally a ginger ale or root beer. 

Looking forward to a wonderful turkey dinner...my sister Doris, my mother and my brother Clifford, and me:

3. As a teen did you live in a city, country, small town? What was it like for you there. Tell us about your hometown please?

This is a picture of my old hometown, the way I remember it most as a young girl.  It has changed quite a bit since this picture was taken in the 1950's, but to me this is the way it will forever be etched in my mind.

It seems like I've written quite a bit about my hometown before. Click HERE for the most recent post about my hometown.  There are other links within that post to previous posts about my home.  To sum it up, I grew up in a small town, which I loved dearly.  Our home was in the country, about three miles out from town. I loved living in the country, surrounded by woods and lakes. I guess that's why I am still a country girl, and still love the woods and lakes.  I don't think I could survive in the city for very long.

4. Would you like to live in your hometown today? Why or why not?

My hometown is still a very nice place to live, but most everyone I knew from there has moved on. I don't have any family living near there, and I think it would be very hard for me to go back "home" without them there. It just could never be the same again for me. However, I would certainly recommend it to anyone who was interested in living in that area. It's still a relatively small town in a prime central Florida region.  Where I currently live is about 70 miles from my "hometown", so I could still go back and visit pretty easily...but it would need to be for something special, like a class reunion or to meet up with old friends for lunch. Or sadly, for a funeral.  I've had to do that already for a classmate, and those are the kind of trips back home you hate to have to make...but the older we get, the more often I know that will happen.  We really need to get together more often while we are still able to enjoy our visit! So, if any of my "old friends" are reading this, we need to plan a get-together soon. We aren't getting any younger!

This is a picture from our 50 year-Class Reunion, which was about 4 years ago. There were only 50 members in our senior class, and sadly we've already said good-bye to way too many, and of those of us who remain, this was all who were able to attend.  We were a very close-knit group of kids. Most of us attended the same schools for all 12 years, so we literally grew up together.  Lots of precious memories of days of yore in this group of people...

This was our whole class in 2nd grade:

This is a close up of the section where I was...on the front row, to the right of the white kitty cat, and I had a flat hat on my head and a dark sweater;

So yes, I have a lot of precious memories from growing up in my hometown. But I've learned in life that you can never really go back and recapture the way it was.  It's better to cherish the precious memories in your heart and keep moving forward.  This is where our lives are today. 

Thank you, Annie, for coming up with these questions this week.  I hope you have a blessed and wonderful week!