During football season of 1971, when I was in 1st grade, the TV repair man came to the house and declared the black and white television “Unfixable.” Mama and Daddy had just finished building a house and had no money for expensive extras. So, we did without. The only memories I have from this Unfortunate Experience is that occasionally my friend Becky Byrd would say, “Did you see that on TV last night? . . . Oh, I forgot.” I played outside until dark. I guess my family actually had conversations in the evenings. Maybe Mama played piano. I know I read a lot as a kid. Back in the day, people saved for what they wanted. So, we saved. By springtime, we had enough money for a new television.
Good Baptists give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. We post in the weekly bulletin how much our church’s goal is and how much we have collected. In GAs (currently Girls in Action, formerly Girls’ Auxiliary–for my non-Baptist friends), we learn about who Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong were and why we give money to missions in their names.
Angie, the middle King Girl, has always been a Goody Two-Shoes. She cried in 2nd grade when her entire class at Selma Street Elementary School had to stand in the hall for misbehavior, and she “didn’t do anything.” She never once got “talks too much” on her report card. When the church started pushing the Easter offering, Angie told Daddy, “I think we need to give the TV money to Annie Armstrong.”
What was he supposed to do? How could he set an example for his daughters by picking “The Idiot Box” (as HE called it) over Jesus? We cried a little on the inside as Daddy put the money in the offering plate.
September came around again. Example or no, Daddy was not going through another football season without television. We went to Sears and bought a deluxe color console that took up the whole corner of the den.
Auburn beat Alabama 17-16 that season. It’s a shame the game wasn’t televised.
I always look forward to your next post.. I am always in for a surprise, and love this one! Hope you and your sweet family have had a blessed Easter!
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