But it is neat that now I can go online and order something special with just a few taps. I am a big Alan Jackson fan and when I listened to one of the songs off his new album, I just HAD to order it! I also added John Grisham’s latest book to the cart and it said my fun should be here in just a few days. I grew up ordering clothes, toys and Christmas gifts from a fat Sears Roebuck catalog and it took a lot longer for the ordered items to arrive! But, hey that was back in the late forties and early fifties and we were always SO excited when our items would arrive. (Of course the things we’d asked Santa for would be waiting under our tree Christmas morning, none of them wrapped.)

The companies I order from give me information about delivery dates, plus a tracking number too. No credit cards during the Sears Catalog era though so I wonder how my parents paid for our orders? I’ll bet they enclosed a check with the paper order they mailed to Sears. I know I’ve told about my first mother-in-law showing us her Rich’s credit card one Sunday at Mt. Bethel and we were all in awe of that new method of payment. A few years passed and my husband and I got a Sears card and then, when he took off, I continued to pay the balance. But one day, I called to get the card changed into my name, and guess what? – a woman was not allowed to have a credit card back in 1972! I’m glad that changed over the years. Neat that I had already bought my own house though, thanks to Farm Home lending. My second in-laws were amazed that I owned my own home. I imagine they thought that it probably belonged to my parents at first. I’d already got my first car loan, at First National Bank of McDonough, thanks to our vice president Bill Wilkerson. He told me to go down to Carmichael Motors, pick out the car and go ahead and write them a check as he would complete the loan when I returned with the title and the keys. I was VERY blessed to have worked with him, and also do business with a favorite dealership. Later on I did take my Oldsmobile to Dixie Motor for any repairs, of which there were very few. As some of you probably know, Dixie Motor became Bellamy Chevrolet.

I’m not sure when First National Bank became Trust Company, and then later SunTrust. I hated to see SunTrust go away but so far Truist is just as easy to do business with and I didn’t even have to change my account number. I have bought several used cars from Bellamy Strickland like the very dependable Camry they sold me back in 2012. Sam took it for a while after I broke my hip and now they are thinking a Toyota might be their next commuter car. It gets good gas mileage, has few maintenance issues, and when we do need to upgrade or replace anything, it’s not that expensive.

Well, things DO keep changing, for the good! I ordered my two items on a Monday, and then, I got an email from them that my package would arrive that day! WHAT? Well, it did, via a kind employee who brought my John Grisham to the front porch. My Alan Jackson joy arrived three days later, via FedEx. I love his voice and also the wonderful words in all of his CDs. I’m thankful to Walmart for being so easy to order from, and for having such rapid delivery! It kind of reminds me of Sears Roebuck.

Beverly Wittler has four children, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. She lives in McDonough.