Simpler times.....

When I was younger, my parents and I would go to visit my mom's sister, Lou, in the VERY small town of Santoy, Ohio. This was a mining town years and years ago, and you could basically kick a stone from one end of the "town" to the other. It was very remote, and my aunt and uncle lived up on top of a hill. Their house had no running water and no indoor plumbing. So, the outhouse was the only bathroom! I can remember as a kid just dreading the urge to "go" because I didn't want to have to go into this building and fight the cobwebs, spiders, flies, and whatever else might be crawling around in there! Since the house had no running water, my aunt and uncle would fill their car with at least 20 plastic gallon jugs and we'd drive down the road to a well to fill these jugs with water. This is the water that was used for drinking as well as the water we used to heat up the water to pour into a basin to take a "bath". It was a real eye opener for a kid who had all the modern conveniences! To brush your teeth, you filled up a little tin cup with water and used that to rinse after you had finished brushing, and this was usually done outside! Even though I didn't care for the "inconveniences", I did always have fun with my aunt and uncle. This was one of my dad's favorite places to visit due to the fact that it was so remote, and he felt like he could relax and enjoy the solitude. It was also a treat for my mom, because she was able to spend time with not only her sister, Lou, but also her sister, Geneva. When the three of them would get together, there was a lot of laughter in the house, and their favorite thing to do was to sit around the kitchen table and play the game "Trouble". They would sit into the wee hours of the night playing that game, and I would lay in bed, listening to the popper that rolled the dice, and would fall asleep to the laughter of 3 sisters taking that game so seriously, but having fun at the same time. Those were simpler times, and I miss them very much. My Aunt Lou raised 8 children in that house with no running water and no plumbing! They all turned out just fine! They all relied on each other, and I think that that is something that is missing in today's families. We have forgotten how to be a family to each other. Perhaps we need to go back to simpler times!