My Leave It To Beaver Life

I call the first part of my life my "Leave It To Beaver Life."  This was up until about age 5 when my Daddy had his first heart attack.  The years before this were idyllic, of course as far as I can remember being younger than the age 5.  But even from hearing Mama tell stories about our life then, it was just so perfectly normal and placid.  Daddy went to work every day, and Mama stayed home with the 2 children and kept house.  She got up every morning and had the children fed, the house cleaned and the laundry on the line by 10:00.  During the summer, children were not allowed to play in the house unless it was raining.  Mama would send us outside and latch the screen door.  No running in and out!  Daddy would come home in the evening and Mama would have supper on the table.  Good home cooked food and vegetables!  Then we would play outside a while longer after supper before we had to get a bath and get ready for bed at 8:00.  It seems like every day was like this.  Just calm and smooth, no big glitches.  Not like today when we hurry to work, hurry home, hurry and cook dinner, hurry and clean up, put on a load of laundry, fall into bed, then start over and do it again the next day.  And that's if you don't need to do shopping or go to kid's ball games or work late.  I have spent most of my adult life searching for that "Leave It To Beaver Life" again, but I don't think it exists any longer.  We're all caught up in being "busy" and running around all the time.  I'm hoping that when I retire I can relax a little and actually take a breath.