Two Precious Dimes
By
Gerry Niskern
It’s a whole new world out there! Nothing is like it used to be! Young people to day don’t value traditions!
Sound familiar? We’ve all heard those laments by friends on the state of our culture today. And of course, a whole lot has changed in today’s traditions and ways of celebrating our life’s milestones.
Young people are looking at the old traditions with fresh eyes and deciding how to fit them into their own puzzle called life. We have all enjoyed the sense of comfort that comes with belonging to a family or group that gave us stabililty with simple traditions carried on year after year.
When I was a kid the whole extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins came out to our farm on every Sunday afternoon and brought their ice cream freezers, along with large blocks of ice. We furnished the milk and fruit: peaches, strawberries and apricots. The women mixed and then the men cranked and cranked and cranked. But, boy, was it worth it! What a summer tradition.
I ‘m sure you could name many more rituals that have continued, and yet changed. Have you ever received a birthday or Christmas card with a little money it for you? Another tradition that most families have.
The other day my great-grandson told me I would be getting a card soon from his daughter. When they were visiting a Farmer’s Market she was fascinated with a lady who was selling cards she had decorated with Swedish designs. “I’d like to send Grandma Gerry one of those cards,” she commented. The 7 year old wrote a message and they sent it to me. I was throwing the envelope away when I reallzed there was something clinking inside. Unbeknownest to her Daddy, she had slipped in two of her precious dimes for me.
I’m not worried. Our family’s traditions are in good hands.