The Good Old Days

When used as an expression, "The Good Old Days" are words as timeless as time itself. We've all heard these words, and, indeed, most of us have used these words, but what, exactly, do these words mean? Experience suggests a simple answer: It all depends on your point of view. In my case first awareness of the Good Old Days occurred during childhood, in particular those times while sitting in awe alongside Granddaddy as he spoke of a magic era long before my life began. At these moments his rocking chair slowed, and a misty sheen clouded his hazel blue eyes. As ecstasy filled his being, sadness filled mine because I'd missed it all.

Time moved on, Granddaddy passed away, and life held new interests and excitement, neither of which triggered thoughts of the Good Old Days. None, that is, until I heard Dad speak of his Good Old Days. How could this be? Like me, Dad had not been there to share his dad's Good Old Days. So what was going on? Again, the answer was simple, but it remained blurred until I was well into adulthood. By this time I had a family of my own, and, yes, by then I also had my own definition of The Good Old Days. One day my children will do the same. Looking back on this, however, it's easy to see my take on The Good Old Days was not unique. That is, the things I now held dear simply echoed the same things I'd heard Dad and Granddaddy speak of. What was the common thread through each? Actually, there were several. To the first, William Shakespeare said it best. The Good Old Days are simply "Remembrance of things past." This is true, as Granddaddy had kept me mesmerized during those times when he spoke of things in his past. Dad's recollection of the Good Old Days was the same, but what were the things they found worth remembering? "The Barefoot Boy," by John Greenleaf Whittier explains it well:

Oh, for boyhood’s painless play, Sleep that wakes in laughing day, Health that mocks the doctor’s rules, Knowledge never learned of schools.

Life, of course, has its serious side, whether lived today or during Whittier's time. Even so, Whittier chose to write of life's lighter side, the side worth remembering. A.E. Housman also wrote in this vein, but he chose a somber mood:

That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.

So how do you define the Good Old Days? For me it is fond remembrance of lighter life in days gone by. Would I trade today for the Good Old Days? No. You see everyone's Good Old Days came with a measure of not-so-good days. Today, then, I do as Dad and Granddaddy and harvest only the good memories. If fortunate enough to reach a rocking chair on the porch of an old folk’s home, I’ll have the passerbys scratching their heads wondering about the smile on this old man’s face. What’s that senile Ol’ Coot smiling about? Simple answer. I’ll be smiling as I relive memories from my Good Old Days. As I now look back over what I’ve written, and try to see it from a younger person’s point of view, it does beg a question: How can anyone live a life that will produce memories worthy of remembrance and a smile? The recipe is simple: “Live each day as you would wish you had lived if you were dying."

Bob Burdick——Bio and Archives

Bob Burdick is the author of The Margaret Ellen, Tread Not on Me, and Stories Along The Way, a short-story collection that won the Royal Palm Book Award.