This post is not about ancestor genealogy but about current family history. And comparing.
Yesterday, my wonderfully-patient husband took four grandchildren, ages 15, 9, 8, and 6 (last one a girl), our son and daughter-in-law POWER SHOPPING. In two hours we found jeans/pants, shirts, socks, underwear, shoes and backpacks for all four. Then lunch at Ritchie's Diner (a Riverside, California small restaurant group) and then on for school supplies. School starts Monday in this rural town in Southern California.
Now, can you imagine trying to get clothes for four children 100 years ago or even 40 years ago? In my family, (in the 1950s-1960s) each girl had one "store-bought" dress each year and new underwear and socks. Shoes were dependent upon whether we needed them at that moment or not. My brothers had store-bought "slacks", underwear and socks. (Boys didn't wear jeans or t-shirts to school then.) Everything else was sewn at home. Since I was the eldest, my mother and I sewed a lot during the summer (when we weren't canning from the fruit trees in our back yard.) We didn't live in a rural area, but we just had a large back yard with 35-40 different fruit trees.
Back to the original topic. Last night, before I fell asleep, I just started thinking that while the trip was somewhat "stressful" if that's the right word, getting clothes for the kids was done quickly, and fairly easily. It took two hours, not all summer. Is one better? Who knows? But I have good memories of both.
