I can remember going to the “eye doctor”, now of course I know he’s really an Optometrist, because I had trouble with my eyes. I was a young girl in the 1950′s at the time, and got a pair of glasses similar to the frame you see here, light blue across the top, and they weren’t bifocals. My biggest problem was that I had astigmatism, and only needed them for reading at that time.
I remember how embarrassed I was to remove those eyeglasses from the little leather-like case at school…in fact back then it may have been a real leather case…I didn’t want anyone in the class to see me in these odd-looking things. I actually managed to get away with not wearing glasses for quite a few years because I hated them as a child, then finally had to wear them for reading, next for reading and distance, and now as a woman well into my 50′s, I wear progressives all the time.
I just got a pair last spring through my optometrist because our insurance covered a pair, but want to get an extra pair that is just for reading, so am looking into getting them through an online site, Zenni Optical, that has them for amazingly low prices, about 1/10th of the price the optometrist offered for an extra pair…some for under $9! We have purchased through them before and were fairly satisfied.
I’ve mentioned this in a few other spots on the web, but this week, I sorted through a beautiful pile of World War II mail, letters written by a man to his wife every 2-3 days from overseas during 1943-1944. He writes from the time he leaves, to…well, I haven’t read that far yet. There are over 100 letters, so I’m looking forward to reading for a long time to come.
I have read through the first 2 months, and this man knew how to put words together so that you sensed the love he had for his wife, and he wrote in a way that made it possible to live his experiences through your imagination as he wrote them. You could sense that he wanted his wife to be experiencing what he was experiencing, and did the best he could with censorship being what it was at that time…every letter was read by and marked “censored”, and sometimes by whom.
As I read, I wondered if writing letters like this is still done…do our guys overseas long for letters as much as this man longed to receive mail, do they write home with the same passion? What about the ones that don’t have someone special in their lives, are they receiving mail? Or is it all done by email now?
There is something so personal about a hand written letter…if you love the person that wrote it, you know you are touching the same paper that their hand has touched, it is the closest thing to having something that they held recently in your hands when you can’t have that person to embrace.
I’m getting off track…like a good novel, and a very romantic one at that, I’m enjoying real stories, written by a real person, who really loved his wife back home, longed to be with her, longed to hear from her, missed her terribly, and would be apart from her longer than he expected.
These remarkable characters were brought to life by Charles Schultz the year before I was born, in daily Peanuts comic strips in 1950. They gained world-wide popularity! Interesting that in my browsing about on the web I find that today marks the anniversary of the publication of the last daily comic strip by Charles Schultz.
This wasn’t the last Charlie Brown comic published, however, he wrote a farewell comic strip that was in the papers the morning after his passing at the age of 77 after battling cancer in February of 2000. If I remember correctly, this was due to be published that date…was not published just because Charles Schultz had died, just one of those heart-warming coincidences?
I remember reading that last comic, reading Charles Schultz’s goodbye message. These were unique comic strips, they always had a little message, and Charlie Brown was a charming underdog that many children could relate to.
As I shared in my previous post, there was a little connection to my husband’s family, as his mother was a teacher, and knew the family of the woman who inspired the Lucy character…Lucy Van Pelt..at least that’s how the family story goes. I always wonder whether she had the same personality…or if she just inspired the name? Lucy started her “life” in the comic as a baby, but later Schultz decided to make her the same age as the other characters.
A couple of nights ago they were playing “The Sound of Music” on television, so I started rummaging through some old VHS tapes looking for our old copy of the movie so we could watch it commercial free…haven’t purchased a DVD of it yet.
While looking through the pile, I came across our copy of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which, of course, brought back a flood of memories for both my husband and myself. For me, it was simply the fact that I enjoyed watching it when I was young, and we enjoyed watching it together with our children when they were young. For my husband, it is the stories his mother would tell about knowing the family of the person on which the character, Lucy, was based.
We talked about the movie when we were gathered with family for dinner this Christmas, and my brother-in-law asked “Did you ever notice that Linus puts down his security blanket when he says ‘fear not’ when he explains to Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas?” He’s right!
I am late posting Christmas wishes this year, but take a look at this little clip I found on YouTube of Linus sharing what Christmas is all about with Charlie Brown, and may I wish you the joy of the real meaning of Christmas not just one day of the year, but every day of the year!
We were still living in our home in Nixon/Edison, NJ, and I was old enough to read. One or perhaps two of my siblings had been born at that time. Being the oldest, I can remember helping with many things, like “potty training” and other “fun” things like that.
I have a specific memory of one such time when we were trying to teach one of my brothers or sisters using what was a small wooden seat with a hole in the middle, and a white plastic “catcher” to put it delicately under it…do you boomers remember those? I know, why remember something like that…moving right along…
I remember it was a very snowy day, and I was reading to my brother or sister as they sat, all about work to be done, pink rings in bathtubs, cats A, B and C, pink that grew and grew until the snow outside was completely pink as pink could be. What a fun book, fun memory, I can picture the day, it was cold and snowy outside, and I could just picture what it would be like if it were all pink.
Happy birthday to the late Dr. Seuss, and thanks for many wonderful memories, and happy books.
I can remember going to the “eye doctor”, now of course I know he’s really an Optometrist, because I had trouble with my eyes. I was a young girl in the 1950′s at the time, and got a pair of glasses similar to the frame you see here, light blue across the top, and they weren’t bifocals. My biggest problem was that I had astigmatism, and only needed them for reading at that time.
I’ve mentioned this in a few other spots on the web, but this week, I sorted through a beautiful pile of 
“, which followed “The Cat in the Hat”.