I Wish We Could Go Back To The Good Old Days

The new year has come and is well on its way. I have been wanting to post the usual “new year, new me” post but my mind has been blank. I didn’t know what to say other than what I have always said in the past. So I kept thinking and kept coming up with a blank post. Then one night I was rocking my youngest daughter to sleep as my oldest daughter was getting ready for bed. From across the hallway, I heard my oldest daughter say, “Alexa, play ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died.’” I smiled because I love that song. I listened while rocking the babe to sleep. When the song was done, my oldest said, “Alexa, repeat.” So I kept rocking and listening. That was it! That was my reasoning for my post. 

I wish grandpas never died. I wish brothers never died. I wish all the good ones didn’t have to leave us too soon. I wish life made more sense. And as I wiped my tears away while wishing and writing this post, I couldn’t help but joke sarcastically, “What do they got going on up there that they are too good to hang down here?” We definitely have to find the humor underneath all of the tears, because they wouldn’t want us to be sad. Man, I sure miss all my loved ones up there. I wish I could talk to them again.

When I look back to five years ago, I see that a lot was different. My kids were younger. I was younger. Some of my loved ones were still on this earth. I lived in a different house. Then I look back to 10 and 15 years ago, it was even more different. Life as we know it keeps changing, and I find myself getting more and more emotional about it as each day passes.

Nothing will be the same as yesterday. Things are changing. People are changing. People are dying. And we all just keep getting older and carrying on with our busy lives. Old traditions are fading, new traditions are beginning. The grandparents – the glue that held everyone together for so many years – are dying, and the family they worked so hard to grow and mend are no longer getting together. The once family gatherings are nothing but a memory in the scrapbook. The old traditions are gone as if they were never there. I look back to my parents’ generation and my grandparents’ generation. They would gather at someone’s house and have beers and play cards. The kids would all hang out in the basement and carry out all sorts of shenanigans. The generations before us didn’t put a basketball game before their own family gatherings. They didn’t let a snow storm deter them from getting together. If the weather was bad, we just had one huge family slumber party.

Those were the days. The good old days. Those are the days that need to be brought back for all the generations to come. It is sad that unresolved feuds have placed a wedge between families and put a stop to those traditions. Big egos have decided that not apologizing is way more important than keeping the glue together. The “get rid of toxic people” attitude has let people get by without resolving their differences and agreeing to disagree.

This world is in need of those old traditions. So choose the old traditions. Choose to apologize. Choose to keep your family and friends as your people. Choose to keep the glue together. All because Grandpa did. And because one day, we will all be saying, “I wish grandpas never died.”