What happened to simplicity?

By Randy Butler
HCP columnist

I was so blessed to have very awesome grandparents on both sides of my family. Even though they were equally great, they were extremely different. 

On my mother’s side, was Ora and Mae Fenner. Of the 60 some years they were married, most were spent living in the community of East Danville. Both had their own cars, and I was never sure why, but they had separate bank accounts.

About once a week, they “went to town.” They bought groceries, went to the bank, and any other weekly things that needed done. However, there was one exception to this rule. Once a month or so they would come to Hillsboro, park on Main Street, and just sit in the car. This was called “visiting.”

My brother and I went with them on occasion. Other folks would do the same thing. Several would stop at the car and just talk with them. As odd as this may seem, it was very common.  

The thing I remember most is every evening after supper, (the term dinner came much later,) they would sit on the porch and relax. No phones, computers, emails to answer…..nothing. Just sit and talk, or just sit. People driving by would even stop sometimes and join them. This went almost until dark. 

On my father’s side was Mamaw Butler. She was known for being a lady who never left the house or even went outside. She was born near Sherburne, Ky. (lived in Hoagland most of her life) and the accent stayed with her. I can still hear her voice today. 

Most of the time she stayed in her chair, yet somehow, she was like the 6 o'clock news. There wasn’t much that happened that she didn’t know the full story.

As a young boy, I remember that she was a cook for Washington School. She didn’t drive, which made traveling a challenge. At that time, all the buses were privately owned. The school system did not own any. Ches Shelton had that particular route, so he took her to work via the school bus every workday.
  
After the bus route, for many years she babysat. Anywhere from 10-20 per day! We all know that would never work in today’s world. We all loved her but knew also she would light us up if needed. Her weapon of choice was a flyswatter. I am not sure if she had special training in using it, but she was good at it. 

When she asked you to go get it for her, you thought so much about running so fast that it would look like a cartoon cutout when you hit the door.

As I said, they both lead very different lives, but in a lot of ways they were very similar. 

Both sets lived within their means. Neither had large payments or obligations for items they didn’t need or could not afford. There weren’t meetings, ball games, functions and a list of many other things that would suck the life from them. Their home was where they lived, not just a place to go to sleep. 

They took time for family and friends, or strangers just needing help or someone to listen to. They led very simple but rewarding lives. 

I ask myself most every day, is the way they chose better than the way we live today? How often instead of feeling fresh and ready for another week are just exhausted from the previous week?

Maybe the one day of rest God commanded for us all to have may be something to consider.

Simplicity is a very good thing if we could somehow just trust it.

Randy Butler is a longtime real estate professional in Highland County.