When she was a teenager, my grandmother worked as a waitress at a local diner. She brought home leftover chocolate and banana cream pies. When she was a teenager, my mother worked as a waitress at the very same diner. She, too, brought home leftover chocolate and banana cream pies. When I was a teenager, I also worked at that very same diner and brought home leftover chocolate and banana cream pies. None of us liked cream pies.
In the before times, a person did not throw away worn or torn clothing. She mended them and was not abashed to wear the patched items in public, at least in non-formal situations. Doing so was a sign of thriftiness and homemaking skills. Oh, and people were not fat. They walked, biked, climbed stairs, did house- and yard work, and ate sufficiently but not to excess.
The photo, taken in 1942, shows a young woman mailing a letter to her husband in the service. She need not fear that a stalker would follow her home and stab her to death, or that a gang-banger driving by would gun her down for the lulz.
Men often talk--okay, boast--about that crazy girlfriend they used to have. It's always, "The sex was great but..." followed by some stupid blahblah. I always wondered a couple of things about that -- why do men so readily admit that the only thing that matters to them is sex and they will seduce a mentally ill person without qualm to get it; and...or...why can't men recognize a mentally ill person and avoid her--are they so blinded by their desire for sex that they are made fools?
Oh, and why don't women talk about that crazy boyfriend they used to have who was great in bed? Two reasons: sex is really not that overwhelmingly important to them and it's never that great so they are not going to put up with a nut case just so they can have sex, and--the crazy boyfriend murders them. It happens every day. Why do women stay with crazy boyfriends? Because: "He needs me, I can't leave him, maybe I can change him." When the verbal abuse and beatings become too much to bear and she tries to get away, it's too late. If she's had children with him in a vain hope that becoming a father will settle him down, he may murder them, too.
