One of my favorite Disney World Rides when I was a child was the Carousel of Progress, which my parents and I also saw at the New York World’s Fair in 1964.  It showed the progress of everyday life.  I loved to talk to my mom about the past, and she regaled me with stories about the ice box, and how they would have to purchase large chunks of ice to keep things cold.  She told me they used to cut huge chunks of ice out of the lake behind our house, and even laughingly told me that one of the ice vendors was too heavy and he fell through ice, horse and trailer. Knowing her, the story had to be true (she never lied), and this led to many years of snorkeling at the bottom of the lake looking for evidence.

My mom was a housewife for most of her married life, although she did get a waitress job at Newport Creamery when I was in my teens.  She catered to my dad, which she saw as her role, and every day we had freshly cooked meals. My dad was a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy, so every day she used a hand potato peeler to take the skin off the potatoes she was to boil to make mashed potatoes. She would bake fresh rolls and steam fresh vegetables.  She always prepared a dessert, my dad’s favorite part of the meal.  Banana cream pie was my favorite, and she would make it using banana pudding.  For some reason, the pudding always managed to have a skin on top of it. She would use a hand mixer (non-electric) to beat the whipped cream.  Often, she would make chocolate pudding, again with a skin on it. Even at my school lunches at Oakland Beach School, the pudding had a layer of skin, which I missed greatly when they went to instant pudding.

My mom would make fresh orange juice for breakfast using a juice squeezer.  My dad’s favorite lunch was a bologna salad sandwich, which she would make by standing at the counter using a hand meat grinder, wearing an apron and a smile.

Progress has been made in all areas of daily living.  I remember wearing nylons with a garter belt, which I hated because they were so delicate that I had to move very carefully lest they get a run.  I heartily welcomed the invention of pantyhose, and the more contemporary tradition of not bothering to wear anything to cover our legs. (Do they even still sell pantyhose?)

Of course, the biggest area of change has been in the written communication area.  Being an avid writer since childhood, I would use paper and pens to send letters to my two pen pals. Even though I enjoyed writing term papers in school and at college, using a typewriter made it challenging.  I am a fast typist, but not very careful.  Every time I would make a mistake, I would have to stop and use white out.  It might take me an hour to write the paper, and 26 hours to type it. Now that I no longer need to write term papers, it is so easy to do so on a computer, as is email letters sent to my pen pals, friends and family.  The computer has changed many things in my life…banking, paying bills, corresponding and shopping.

SHOPPING! There is both a benefit and a downfall to shopping online.  It has replaced my treks to the mall, which I do miss sometimes.  Now, everything is at my fingertips.  Were I not able to find a certain item while actually shopping in the store, it is now easy to find on the internet, and my spending has skyrocketed.  Which brings me to another invention, credit cards so I can purchase even MORE on the internet.  Need I say more?