MEMORIES
Take a stroll.....with me, and see what you remember..... I remember it
all, and strangely it doesn't make me feel old, it makes me feel sad that
our younger generation can't have had and felt that safer, slower and
easier time of life. And glad I could take a stroll back when life was
simpler, It was a lot safer an much more fun!
If you are old enough...take a stroll with me...close your eyes...and go
back...before the Internet...before semiautomatics and crack...before SEGA
or Super Nintendo...way back...
I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sittin' on the porch, Simon
Says, Kick the Can, Red light, Green light. Lunch boxes with a
thermos...chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the store,
hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, Jacks, Mother May I?
Hula Hoops and sunflower seeds, Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights, wax
lips and mustaches, Mary Janes, saddleshoes and Coke bottles with the names
of cities on the bottom, running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby
pins, Mickey Mouse Club, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Fran & Ollie, Spin &
Marty...all in black & white.
When around the corner seemed far away, and
going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts...backyard shows, lemonadestands,
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, sittin' on the curb, gazing up at clouds,
jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed, pillow fights,
getting "company," ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie
Gleason, white gloves, walking to church, walking to the movie theater,
being tickled to death, running till you were out of breath, laughing so
hard that your stomach hurt, being tired from playin' ... Remember that?
Not steppin' on a crack or you'll break your mother's back...paper chains
at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington...the smell of paste in
school and Evening in Paris.
What about the girl that had the big bubbly handwriting, who dotted her
"i's" with hearts?? The Stroll, popcorn balls, & sock hops...Remember
when...when there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF
Flyer) and the only time you wore them at school was for "gym." And the
girls had those ugly uniforms.
When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly everyone's
Mom was at home when the kids got home from school. When nobody owned a
purebred dog.
When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter, a huge bonus.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. When girls neither dated
nor kissed until late high school, if then. When your Mom wore nylons
that came in two pieces.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their
hair done, everyday and wore high heels. When you got your windshield
cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every
time. And, you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the
box.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry
groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it. When it
was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real
restaurant with your parents. When they threatened to keep kids back a
grade if they failed...and did! When the worst thing you could do at
school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum.
And the prom was in the auditorium and we danced to an orchestra, and all
the girls wore pastel gowns and the
boys wore suits for the first time and we stayed out all night. When a '57
Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch
submarine races, and people went steady and girls wore a class ring with an
inch of wrapped dental floss or yarn coated with pastel frost nail polish
so it would fit her finger.
And no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in
the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked. And you got in
big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever
had
a key.
Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and
saying things like "That cloud looks like a..."
And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the
game. Back then, baseball was not a psychological group learning experience
-- it was a game.
Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic
seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger. And...with
all our progress...don't you just wish...just once...you could slip back in
time and savor the slower pace...and share it with the children of the 80's
and 90's ...
So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy
Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger,
The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk...as
well as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled
with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits
to the pool...and eating Kool-aid powder with sugar.
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate
that awaited a misbehaving student at home.Basically, we were in fear for
our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
But we all survived because their love was greater than the threat.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say,
Yeah, I remember
NOTE* I got this in an email, LOVED it, but I don't know the author, so if you do please let me know so I may credit them. Thanks, suny
