Sentimental Jorney

Yesterday afternoon I sat down to read and decided to also flip through the channels to see what was on television.  I unexpectedly came across a PBS special which not only was highlighting the secular music of the 50's, but PBS had also brought back many of the original artists to sing their hits. It was great!  I couldn't believe how old they all looked - I guess like me!  You see, the 50's were the years in which I grew up - the years that I went to elementary school, jr. high, high school and also started college.  So the PBS special really provided for me a sentimental journey, even though the song Sentimental Journey (that is an old song for you youngsters who never heard it) was actually introduced in the late 1940's.  As I listened and watched, a flood of memories came back (and maybe even a few tears!).  I recalled great times at home and at school.  I thought about my parents and my brother and sister and wonderful experiences which we shared.  I thought about friends and former classmates, football games, parades, playing pick-up baseball and football, music lessons, early jobs, teachers, starting a new church, grandparents and relatives, Christmas, starting college, and so much more.  They were good times - simpler times - times when nobody locked their doors - times when kids could run outside and play without fear - times when television was clean and enjoyable - times when we knew our neighbors - times when you didn't need to fight traffic - times when "five and tens" and pharmacies had food counters and there were small grocery stores in every neighborhood - times when we walked long distances to school and came home for lunch - times when most people went to church and schools didn't give homework on Wednesday nights - times when all the stores closed for several hours for Good Friday services - times when the words to music were clean and understandable and the harmony was great.  Great times, great memories of times long gone.   I do thank the Lord that I lived in such times and have such good memories - I believe that I was really blessed.  And adding to my sentimental journey is the realization that if mother had lived, today she and dad would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary.  Oh how I wish that I could tell her happy anniversary today, but I know that she is now in the best of places, with her Lord.  Again, I have been truly blessed in so many ways and I thank the Lord daily for my heritage.  And, if you are fortunate enough to have parents who are still alive today, please don't miss the opportunity today to talk to them, thank them, and tell them that you love them.  Afterall, time changes many things so unexpectedly - today is gone forever, so quickly - and then all we have left is to take our sentimental journeys.