Talking turkey: The price difference between then and now is astronomical

While politicians and political pundits argue whether the price of a turkey dinner for 10 costs more, less, or the same as it did last year, it’s nice to look at an old 1985 grocery ad like you see here on the Advance News front page and remember back to a much simpler time.

Some people reading this newspaper (or online at anjournal.com) weren’t even born in 1985, or they are too young to remember, but those years were a golden era of sorts for the RGV. Which included the mid- to late-1970s.

The Valley was well into the modern era when segregation had given way to a basic semblance of equality – middle- class Americans of both Mexican and Anglo ancestry were making money, and the times were good.

The RGV was, and still is, one of the most impoverished areas of the U.S., but crime, especially violent crime, was a fraction of what it is today, and at least the packing sheds were still open offering jobs to those who wanted to work.

The big-box stores had yet to arrive, so the mom-and-pops still ruled the day, employing many, and online shopping wasn’t even a thing. In fact, the advent of the internet really didn’t come into fruition for the general public until the early 1990s, when a dial-up modem and low bandwidth still wasn’t conducive to much online access.

To top it off, the ag/citrus industries were still running full bore here, the smell of orange blossoms in March was still a given no matter really where you were.

And the traffic? What traffic.

Grass still covered more of the county than did concrete, with the median down Exp. 83 from here to almost Brownsville was still just a large swath of grass with beautiful bougainvillea lining the drive.

No one can stop progress, though, which kicked off with NAFTA in the early 1990s.

Still, for some reason, for a lot of people it seems, Thanksgiving makes one remember the past.

You know what cynics say about holidays, right? It’s a time when family members who really don’t get along or like each other are forced to get together.

Those with an upbeat outlook on life, though, say, thank you for another holiday with the family we love. Nothing in life quite as precious.