My God, would I live to see these days too!

Even if our lives were not spent in poverty, we never had plenty of money.

I didn't have it, but did anyone else?

They didn't.

There wasn't a rich person in every neighborhood.

Families lived on a single salary.

The number of families with two salaries like mine was negligible.

Those who owned a car could be counted on one hand.

Because I belonged to a two-salary family, I was accustomed to the famous airport meatballs.

I would also eat Akçaabat meatballs with piyaz until I was stuffed.

I would also stop by Rüştü's bakery in Moloz.

When eating Kalkanoğlu's roasted meat with rice by the kilo, the fat would drip from my mouth.

The taste of the lamb chops I ate on Zigana Mountain is still in my mind.

Butter-fried trout at the place owned by Hamit İnan, my friend from both high school and university, in Uzungöl.

Not the fake butter that costs a fortune in the organic aisles of supermarkets these days.

Kadahor butter.

Later, things changed.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

Germany reunited.

Russia collapsed.

China entered the scene, and the market suddenly became different.

The industrial revolution made itself felt thoroughly.

Production lines reduced costs to near zero.

Wealth spread significantly.

Cars, phones, smart devices, computers, and so much more.

Turkish Airlines (THY) flying 4 times a day between Istanbul and New York.

Credit cards with millions in our pockets.

Dead investments made in villages alongside houses and summer homes.

We had become a thousand times richer compared to our childhood.

Instead of the one car that used to be in the neighborhood, there were 2 in the parking lot.

The good old days are now over.

In other words, the good old days are over for Turkey.

Yesterday, I was startled by the price I saw while buying bread at the market.

For the first time in my life, I put back the bread I had picked up.

The bread we used to buy from the bakery and distribute to everyone even when we were poor.

I said to myself, instead of paying this money, I will eat the bread left over from yesterday.