The Vanishing Act

Recently, I read an article on AOL NEWS titled "Things Vanishing in America". One thing is for sure, life is a state of change. Some of the things vanishing, I say, good riddance, but most I bid a sad farewell. AOL listed: Movie Rental Stores - OK by me, Netflix does a fine job. Dial Up Internet Access - Again, OK by me. Can't imagine anyone still using dial-up when cable is so fast. Phone Land Lines - They were better years ago anyway. My Daddy worked for Southern Bell and I swear the phones from my youth were much better made. The land line phones of today are so cheaply made, they are disposable. VCR's - Boo Hoo on this one. I just figured out how to use mine! Not too long ago, I went to an electronic store to buy a new one and they laughed at me! Cameras That Use Film - This one is great. I love taking a picture, looking at it and if I don't like it, I delete it and "do over." I also don't miss taking the film to the drug store and remembering to pick it up. Incandescent Light Bulbs - Personally, like my VCR, I still use them. I'm just an old fashion gal. Stand Alone Bowling Alleys - I'd rather have a mammogram than go bowling although the local bowling alley was a big hang-out when I was a teenager. I think it was my bowling performance that turned me so off. The Milk Man - A very pleasant childhood memory. I even remember his name, Mr. McCormick. He knew where the house key was hidden! (Under my sand pail in the sandbox.) We came home one day and the milk bill was on the kitchen table, it was half burned up. He left a note, "Mrs. Jones, you left your stove on, but don't worry, I turned it off!" Handwritten letters - a dying art. My most regular snail mail comes from my sister Judy (I think because she knows that to this day, I miss my letters and cards that my mom used to send) and my "second Mom" who is over 90 and doesn't know how to turn a computer on. Personal checks - I didn't know personal checks were disappearing. I still have my checkbook and regularly write some checks, but come to think of it, I write about 20% of the checks I wrote some years ago. I fought paying bills on line, but once I got talked into it, I love it. Zip zap, what used to take me hours to do, now takes minutes. Drive-in Movies - I think all of us who are "seasoned" have fond memories of years gone by and drive-in movies. News Magazines and TV News - Viewers and readers are down 50% in the last decade. I guess a lot of folks made the same decision that I made a few years ago. Why am I doing this to myself? I don't need all this negative, horrible stuff in my thoughts. If the news is big enough, I hear about it. The Family Farm - How sad. Another wonderful memory from my childhood is that of my summer visits to the grandparents farm. Milking the cow, riding Long Ears the mule, riding on the tractor, helping to pick strawberries, tomatoes and corn and enjoying the fruits of our labor at supper time. The only negatives I can remember is churning butter and ... Outdoor Toilets - Don't miss them at all. My family always had indoor plumbing, the outhouse was at the farm and made me appreciate the indoor plumbing.

These were all on the AOL list. I have some of my own: Gas Station Attendants - Honestly, in the good ole days, you pulled up at the pump and before you could say Howdy, the attendant was at your car to pump the gas, clean your windshield front and back, check your oil and tires - and this was part of the service, no extra charge! That's why they were called "Service Stations." Detached Garages - As I was growing up, our garage was 100 feet behind our house, as was every ones. Oh, the memories; the garage was where I learned to play poker, kiss a boy, and smoke a cigarette. Seven-card Stud Tournaments. I love seven-card and I miss it. In the late eighties and early nineties there were at least half a dozen weekly stud tourneys. Today - zero. Very few major tournaments include a seven-card stud event.

Poker School Online (pokerschoolonline.com) has an online stud tourney every now and then. On Sunday, I was the special guest with a big bounty on my head. I really enjoyed the game and as usual when I play poker I learn something new. Sunday, I won a big hand and many of the players wrote ~~~~~~~~~~~. I thought my computer had blown a fuse. No, the poker director told me, they are giving you the wave! (Forever Friends - My mom once told me that if, when you died, you had true friends enough to fill the fingers of one hand, you will have lived a good life. I thought at the time, no way. I could fill my fingers on both hands and all my toes, but that was before I had lived as long as I have. Now I understand. Those who you sometime think are forever friends are just acquaintances who use you. At first it seems alright and you don't even know what is happening until you look back over the years of this so called friendship. And then they borrow money from you (again) and you have no qualms about helping them because you are so blessed and they have had such a difficult life. They have borrowed from you before, made monthly payments and wiped the slat clean, and then comes the big loan, so they can retire and move back home. You make the loan in good faith, with their word that the monthly payments will begin immediately. So, knowing you are helping a forever friend you do not hesitate, and then, guess what? You learn another lesson in

life. They won't answer your calls or open your email and you have no idea if the snail mail is getting to them and they don't call when they visit Las Vegas. Why? Because they never were a forever friend, they were just users. On a brighter note, new friends come into our lives a lot and with each new friend comes the potential for a forever friend. OK, I shall put my soap box away. Just one more thing will NEVER Vanish from America - Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!