Working on Sunday

It is a very strange feeling to be in the lab on Sunday.  Appeasing the time off gods after my vacation and trying to get everything caught up before I leave again on Tuesday Evening.

I remember when I was a little kid, nothing was open or even  moved on Sundays.  You went to church, home and ate dinner, then puttered around the house doing not much.  Pop would read the paper, then work in the garage, the yard or his gun room depending on the time of year.  Ma would do some light cleaning, then usually sew or help Dad with whatever.  They usually seemed to spend Sundays in close proximity.  If the weather was especially nice we would "go for a drive".  Set out with no particular goal in mind and just see where the day took us. We didn't have television and all was right with the world.

I don't really remember when things changed.  I think it was a slow, subtle change that snuck up on us.  I think it was when we got our first "discount" store: Gibson's.  Or perhaps it was the 7-11.  I think the truck-stop was always open, but it wasn't a place that we ever went to as I recall.

But things did change and pretty soon everything was open on Sunday, and staying open later in the evenings.  And this has been true of every "city" that I have lived in.  The exception to this was the small towns that we lived in.  They were closed by 5 PM every day and totally closed on Sunday.  And this is how it should be.

The parks were full on the nice days, whole families took walks when the cool of the evening rolled around.  People did watch TV all day if the weather was bad, but that was rare.  Extended families got together and talked, sang, and played games.  This doesn't happen in the cities too much anymore.  There is simply too much to do!

I don't think I am a fan of what used to be called the "blue laws" but I would love to see a slight return to the simpler times when owners of stores lived in the towns that they served and stayed closed one day of the week.  If not out of reverence to God and His Word, then simply as a day of rest and family.  If you had a serious emergency and needed a major plumbing component or something, you could call them and they were happy to meet you at the store or would bring it by the house and see if you needed help fixing whatever broke.

I miss the "good old days" and I am sure that they were not as golden as shine in my memory, but they were simpler, happier times. 

The only thing I have today that resembles those days is that we still don't have a television set that gets more than one channel.