[or-roots] No TV

[JNCRIDGE at aol.com]

I told my kids that not only did my family not have a video-recorder when I 
was a kid, we didn't even have a T.V., "and even the radio was in black and 
white!"

In addition to the real history, there is also the mythology of the family.  
So my kids know that every day I walked to school, uphill both ways, through a 
raging blizzard under the boiling sun.

And I also told them some of the true stuff. My great-grandmother lost money 
three times due to bank failures, and my mom remembered the look of horror 
when FDR announced the bank holiday; my great grandmother was sure she was going 
to lose her deposit again.  And then I explained to my kids that now the bank 
is insured, so you don't lose your savings the way people used to.

We had a family wedding last week, and it was interesting to me to hear a 
nephew telling his girlfriend some of the family stories that we had passed on to 
him.