I have now lived 18,906 days; on September 5, 2005, I hit 19,000 days.
Things have changed. And nothing has changed. Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush have held the office of POTUS ('though George W. Bush is in the midst of passing through the White House alimentary canal).
The year I was born, Eddie Fisher, Tony Bennet, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Perry Como, Patty Page, and Stan Freberg were on the top of the Hit Parade. From Here To Eternity won the Oscar for Best Picture. Dragnet, The Roy Rogers Show, I Love Lucy and The Milton Berle Show were on television.
Some cool new toys were introduced that year, and they're all still with us: Mr. Potato Head, Pez, plastic army men, Silly Putty, and Legos.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was published (great book BTW), The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (who died earlier this year) came out, as did Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin, and Secret of The Andes by Ann Nolan Clark.
Bread was fifteen cents a loaf; milk was $0.94 a gallon; a new car cost about $1,800; you could buy a house for under ten thousand; eggs were $0.75 a dozen; gasoline was $0.29 a gallon; and a stamp cost you three cents. These prices sound pretty good, but the minimum wage was $0.75 an hour, and $4,700 a year was a median salary.
World War II had only been over eight years when I was born. It was a contemporary event when I was a kid! One of my friend's Dads was with Patton's 3rd Army (or was it the 5th?) as they raced through Berlin toward Hitler's Bunker. Our dads were all Over There, in Europe, Africa or The Pacific, and our mothers worked in factories (Betty Brummet riveted bombers at Boeing), or joined the service (Betty also enlisted in the Marines).
In 1953, The Depression still cast a long shadow. Our parents lived through it as children.
I am glad to Be Here Now. Of the things gone and things still here, I vote for things here. Now. Where All This Is That.
---o0o---
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