RURAL REFLECTIONS: Pause to reflect

Want to go window shopping?

If I were to ask my grandkids this, they would reply: “You just bought new windows.”

Growing up, we did not have much. Most farm families were in the same boat. We only bought the essentials. The idea of shopping for anything we wanted never crossed our minds. Though we certainly dreamed of it as we browsed through the Sears catalog. Stores lured us with their window displays yet gave us so much more.

On Saturdays after piano lessons, we walked the streets of Greenville, Ohio, stopping at each store to look into their display windows. The town boasted jewelry stores, clothing stores, a bakery, a millinery shop, and two 5- & 10-cent stores.

We moseyed down the street stopping at each window along the way. Even as adults, we did the same. At each one we stopped and commented on the displayed products. Did the window change from the week before? What was new in the store?

Sometimes we went to Dayton doing the same. Usually the shopping focused on sheet music from the music store. If an event was coming up, we looked for that special piece of clothing. The store windows introduced us to new styles as well as new dreams. Maybe even our small world became larger.

It is difficult to window shop now. We have box stores and malls. Yes, we look in the windows at the mall. Windows that more often than not look into the entire store. Where are the displays that once caused us to stop and dream?

The old catalog has progressed to online shopping. No windows there. Just pages to sift through. Better? Hmm.

Shopping and stopping were indeed a social event. Neighbors came to town to do the same. This was a time when life moved more slowly. We took time to look, time to visit, time to be experience the simplicity of everyday life.

Sadly there is one thing that I truly failed to notice. It was the reflection in the store windows of a mother and her three daughters.