Back in the day...

“Back in the day, I remember…”

I CAN’T BELIEVE I SAID THAT!

So there I was at the Subway in Sioux Center after a day of visiting high schools. A young boy was ordering ahead of me and when I rattled off my order of “footlong spicy Italian on white with double American cheese”, he turned to me and said, “man, you must eat at Subway a lot!”

“Well, I do eat at Subway a lot” I responded, “but I also worked there when I was in high school and college.”

The woman making my sandwich started talking to me about when I had worked at Subway and then it came out. The “back in my day (I am officially getting old)” saying. I mentioned that when I had started working at Subway we didn’t have pizzas, no special sauces, the choice of white or wheat bread, and BMT’s that had bologna on them and came pre-made on a sheet of deli paper. Nobody cared about how many grams of fat were in their subs. They cared about them tasting good.

I look back and think that it wasn’t that long ago. I applied to work at Subway on my 16th birthday, only 9 years ago. Times are changing quick, and these changes are offering more options, but they also complicate the process. It made me think about how some of the things that people, and myself, enjoy the most are the simple things in life. A picnic with a sandwich, a bag of chips, and some Coke-pretty simple, and a lot of fun! A cold glass of iced tea and a bologna sandwich after mowing the lawn on a hot day-very easy, yet very nice and refreshing. A warm cup of coffee on a cold winter morning. Very simple, very comforting.

In today’s world, the picnic would include sushi and 5 courses. The iced tea would be one of 50 different flavorful choices, and the coffee was probably bought at a store where the beans are only found in only the remote and special areas of the world (AKA a 5 dollar up charge). As times begin to change we need to remember that sometimes simple is better and more rewarding. Slow down, take a moment, and look around you. It is fall and the leaves are turning beautiful shades, something that in our hectic lives we might forget to enjoy. It’s simple really, just realize the simple, good things in life and you will “simply” be happy!

So, back in the day may not be all that bad. Maybe I’ll bring some back in the day back to modern day!

GO STORM and enjoy all that is around you!

Andy