Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days!

Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Sometimes it feels like

This world's gone crazy

Grandpa, take me back to yesterday

When the line between right and wrong

Didn't seem so hazy

(Chorus)

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other come what may?

Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say?

Did families really bow their heads to pray?

Did daddies really never go away?

Oh, Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast

We call it progress

But I just don't know

And Grandpa, let's wander back into the past

And paint me the picture

Of long ago

Did lovers really fall in love to stay

And stand beside each other come what may?

Was a promise really something people kept

Not just something they would say and then forget?

Did families really bow their heads to pray?

Did daddies really never go away?

Oh, Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days

Oh, Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days 

I love this song.  It's an old country song sung by the Judds.  My mom had the cassette tape and I loved to listen to it.  At the time I didn't even pay attention to the words.  Recently I heard the song again and this time I heard the words and felt like it was a reflection of my feelings right now.  I actually feet teary when I listened to it.
 
I only have 2 grandparents living now, my dad's mom and my mom's dad.  I feel lucky to have been able to have all my grandparents around as long as I have.  Last year my grandma moved from her home in California to Utah to be closer to family.  It was getting to a point where she was no longer safe living alone.  She was living in an assisted living home a few blocks from my sister in Utah for a while but recently moved to a facility near my parents when they returned from their mission.
 
Since she will never be able to return to her home in California my dad and his brother have been taking steps to prepare her home to sell.  I have a lot of memories in that home.  I grew up living in the same town as my grandparents and spent a lot of time in their home while growing up.  Since my parents moved out of Califorina after my dad retired I've not been back to my hometown for many years, around 8.  The last time I was there was for my grandpa's funeral when Matt was 2 years old.

My sisters and I have been talking about trying to make a trip down there, with no kids, before the house is sold.  We would like to see it one more time and take a walk down memory lane.  Sadly, it doesn't seem like the trip will happen.  Which makes me really sad. The other day my boys where listening to records at their grandma's house which took me back to listening to my grandma's record player.  Then, a few days later, I was listening to a pandora channel that was playing old music like Frank Sinatra, etc.  I started thinking about my grandparents and life in a different time.  Not a time that I experienced firsthand but that I knew my grandparents did.  I started thinking of their generation and how we are coming to the end of that generation.  Both my grandpa's served during WWII.  My living grandpa is 93 years old now. 

The world is so different now from that time.  That generation had so much pride and love of God and country. The standards I live and value where much more widely held by the citizens of this great nation.  America was respected as the best and brightest and it was okay to feel that way.  God was everywhere and people where not trying to take Him out of the equation.  I know in my family I will try to carry the torch of their example.  I seriously get teary when I look at the words of the song at the beginning of my post and when I think that within a short amount of time that generation will no longer be around.  I want to make sure I keep their stories and values alive in my life and family.