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Every now and then I see something on Facebook that brings back a memory that I could never forget. My husband showed it to me from one of his Facebook friends.

It was the picture of someone standing on top of a roof trying to adjust the antenna for better viewing for those watching the television inside the house. His words to me were, “Remember this?”

I am pretty sure there are many out there who have some interesting memories of antennas on the roof of their home. The higher up the antenna, the better reception supposedly.

I lived down a lane growing up and there was a creek that surrounded my house with trees lining the creek. My daddy always said this was a part of the reason why our television reception was bad. We  were so far from the television stations that we could get. I never knew for sure if that were true but I believed what ever my daddy said when I was a child.

Anyway, quite often the television would “act up,” or lose receptionn. My daddy would then go up on the roof top of the house and try to see what he could do by moving the pole around while we would be down below and in the house yelling instructions to him.

Now the instructions simply meant for him to turn the antenna pole left or right. Then we might yell “Back” to move It some more, or”Just a little” or “Stop, right there.” Daddy would be back down again and we would watch better television until a storm would come and mess the reception up again.

One incident surpassed all other antenna fixes.

My daddy was once again on the roof manipulating the antenna pole and we five kids and my Mom were yelling out the instructions.

We all felt like we had to be in on the act by yelling. The only four channels we could get, located in Lexington, may have heard us as we screamed.

Daddy had been turning the pole for about five minutes. All of a sudden, we saw the pole come crashing down with my Dad still trying to hold onto the pole. He hit the ground and as my Mom saw this happening from the inside she hit the floor inside. We kids thought both our parents were gone.

Amidst tears, we ran to check on Daddy. Once we found him alive, we told him about Mommy on the floor in the house. He came in and got her to come to from her fainting episode. We were so happy to have both of them alive.

I know Daddy had to have been pretty sore from falling off the house, but I remember the attention was quickly diverted to my Mom.

Every time I think of those old antennas, I think of that day. It was so frightful when it happened, but has brought many a giggle within our family since that day.

Every now and then, I have a slight urge to get an antenna each time the cable bill goes up. I am not at all happy with what I pay to watch television or to talk on the phone.

I can’t tell you how many times I have picked up my phone instead of the remote control to change channels or picked the remote up to.make a call.

Oh well, life sure has changed since the days of the television acting up. Life used to be a whole lot simpler in many ways for me.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.