Last day of 2019, last day of this decade!

December 31st, 1959

As I open the kitchen table to put the two extra leaves in I think back on the year.  I am in the 7th grade and it has been a year of change.  The Cayuga High School no longer exists.  The high school students are now staying on the bus and going to Forman.  All of a sudden we, 7th and 8th grade, are the oldest in school.  Dave and Joan now stay on the bus and go to Forman.  Joan was the first homecoming queen of Sargent Central and Mom was so proud.  Mrs. Odenbrit is our teacher and we are on the top floor of the school now.  Dave and I are going to play table tennis tonight.  We have been playing games all day and tonight Mom agreed to give up her kitchen so we could play.  I have already cut pototoes so we can fry them on the cook stove as we play.  This afternoon we had played the Touring Card game and then played with the empty shells and marbles.  Darn it, Dave beat me and I was not happy.  Dave is outside feeding the cows as it is his turn so I am setting up the table.  I think back on the year of 1959.  

• the average wage is $5,010
• Bread is 20 cents but of course Mom bakes all of our bread
• The paper said the average home costs $12,400.  I can not imagine how much money that is
• In social studies the big news is Hawaii is now our 50th state
• We do NOT have a TV but Halvors have one and I have seen "Rawhide", "Bonanza" and "The twilight Zone"
• We did go to Santa Claus Day in Lidgerwood and it was free but it did have a sign that movies cost $1.00
• Gas has gone up to $.25 a gallon

Dave comes in from the barn and with a smile on his face he tells me that we lucked out, the water tank did not overflow today!  As we get our table tennis paddles and the balls I notice that Mom and Dad are content in the living room.  Mom is making something with yarn and as usual Dad is reading about cameras and guns.  

Dave and I have the evening planned out.  We will play table tennis for a while and eat fried potatoes as we play.  Then about 8:00 we will empty out our new puzzle on the table and work on it until it is finished well into 1960.  We will have at least one piece of Mom's lefsa before we go to bed in that ice cold bedroom.  WHY IS DAD SO SO AGAINST CUTTING A HOLE IN THE CEILING SO WE CAN HAVE SOME HEAT UPSTAIRS???  Oh, it may be about $$s.

The evening is a FUN time.  Dave beats me in table tennis.  I think he does beat me maybe 60% of the time but then he is older, right?

As I fell asleep I had thoughts of "what will life be 10 years from now?"  I have seen Ronald, Janet and now Joan is almost out the door.  I know that 10 years from now life will be so different and I wonder what God has in his plans!  I think about those summer days when I have nothing to do so I shimmy up the pole to the barn roof and then lie on my back dreaming about "what next".  I say to myself, "I want to be someone and I want to go places Mom and Dad have not been."  WHY???  I am not sure but really I just want to see and do things that now are only in my imagination.  

As I write today I ask myself if I am ready for a new decade.  I think I am.  Lord, bring it on and give me the grace to know and do your will, PLEASE!!!