“We never outgrow our need for love, and we never reach the limit of how much love we can give.” ~ Unknown
good days
My grandparents, Hazel and Thornton Terry, had a telephone just like this for most of my early life. Seriously, they had that phone until I was probably in my twenties in the 1980s. You could have knocked somebody in the head with it and killed them instantly, used it as a doorstop, or driven a car over it; the thing was heavy and built like a tank. Tonight’s BGT deTour was down in Madison County at the Kentucky River Museum at Boonesboro near Lock No. 10 on the Kentucky River. Our tour guide (below left), whose name I didn’t catch, is the grandson of the last lockmaster to live in the house. The phone was inside the lockmaster’s house, in the hallway, and it became a point of hilarity when he brought it to the attention of the young man and woman (whose names I’ve since forgotten). He asked her to make a call, and she truly didn’t know what to do. He had to tell her, and then show her, how to dial the rotary. She gave up dialing before she even finished the whole sequence of seven numbers. As he explained the old-fashioned phones, the photo below was snapped the moment she realized we all had party lines, and everybody had to wait their turn to use it. She was mortified by the notion. It was fascinating to watch her try to use that phone. Of course, me and all the other old people in the room thought it was funny because, my God, who doesn’t know how to use a phone? Well, it’s not her fault she was born after they existed. Thankfully, she was a really good sport about it. I kind of felt like this deTour was the perfect cap to a pretty sweet day since it started with Madison County and the airing of the interview I did with WEKU’s Cheri Lawson back in July about my research on Place, Identity, and Natural Disasters and West Liberty. She did a brilliant job of whittling down an hour’s worth of conversation, plus interview excerpts, to under seven minutes. As a bonus, I don’t sound like an idiot. That might be a first because journalists have always made me sound imbecilic. I had the best time talking to Cheri. She’s a wonderful person, so I’m not surprised the care she took with the story is evident. So, yeah, I’m happy and grateful for every moment of this day. I’m especially grateful that I know how to use a rotary phone and deal with a party line.
what’s a party line?
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