I can close my eyes and see the big black dial telephone situated on a small table behind the dining table at my Grandma Bullard's house on Mill Street in White Springs. I wish I had kept that dial telephone. It was heavy; my cousin and I would joke a battleship wouldn't have stood a chance had you thrown that phone at it. I can hear Grandma Bullard say to me, "I am going to call Carver's and have a few things delivered. We have company coming this afternoon."
When grandma said "Hello," immediately the voice at the other end would say, "Mrs. Bullard, what can we do for you today?" Grandma would then give them her grocery order and, in just a little while, someone would deliver the groceries to the house. There are many things I thought were a thing of the past, until the coronavirus came knocking at our door. I notice many of the major supermarket chains, Publix, Winn Dixie and others, not only have curbside pick up for customers, but, in some cases, home delivery.
As I thought about this phenomenon brought on by the pandemic, it occurred to me what was "old" is now "new" again. Who would have dreamed we would have ever seen grocery delivery again? I wouldn't have and, yet, throughout our region, many grocery stores in small southern towns and some pharmacies, too, regularly deliver to their customers. Many times, several decades ago, it was a matter of many folks not having transportation. Today, it is a matter of safety and taking care of one's health.
If we live long enough, we do see some things come "full circle." Technology has greatly improved the speed at which certain things occur. When I first began writing for the newspaper 36-years-ago, we typed our columns, were paid by the word and, in order to get your news in the paper on Thursday, you had to have a column done no later than five days ahead. Print news is struggling these days amidst the improvements of technology and so are many other institutions and their ways of doing things. In education, so much is online now. I firmly believe we will live to see the day when public libraries are a thing of the past, as you can access any amount of research or get any book on line now.
I am still a dinosaur in that I love to pick a book up and I find it hard to become accustomed to Zoom meetings. I smile when I hear grocery stores will deliver again, as I am reminded of a slower, more gentle age and, once again, I can see my Grandma Bullard take a sip of her coffee and "phone-in" her grocery order.
From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a day filled with joy, peace and, above all, lots of love and laughter.