Boy, old Charlie, at age 83, is sure having a lot of trouble these days.

I’ve been told I’m living back in the 1950s.

I guess I am, as I’m one of the very few who still write longhand letters, sometimes four to six pages.

When I try to call Blue Cross on a problem, I have to punch lots of numbers and I have to wait a long time to get to talk to anyone about my problem.

I do admit I’ve come a long way from those ’50s, as now we have a laptop computer and ID on the phone, and when we get a phone call while watching TV, it even shows on the TV screen who is making the call to us.

We are still away from one of those real fancy phones that does everything you can imagine in such a small-sized thing.

Does anyone like me have a couple of those old olive drab metal ammunition boxes that were made in the old Rudy factory?

Or does anyone in Dowagiac have a Whizzer bike that was popular in the 1940s?

Are there any boys still around in Dowagiac who were Civilian Conservation Corps boys years ago?

I had a visit recently from an old classmate, Dorothy Sibson, who lived out in the country.

She asked me if I remember her riding her horse into town to go to a Saturday movie matinee at the Century Theatre.

No, I didn’t remember this.

She said she used to tie her horse to the long row of pipe railing that farmers used to tie up their horse and wagons.

This railing ran from in back of the theater down past the railroad park.

I think Dorothy lived out over Wilbur Hill Road, but how many miles I don’t know.

When I was a youngster, we didn’t have a TV set to spend a lot of hours like some kids do today.

But I admit we did spend some time listening to our favorite radio programs.

Forty-seven years ago we lost the beautiful old Beckwith Theatre building when it was torn down.

Now I hear Doug has closed Round Oak Restaurant. What a shame to see the loss of these two, huh?

I remember as a kid when I got an earache, my dad would blow smoke from his pipe in my ear.

The warm smoke helped make it feel better.