If you are old enough... take a stroll with me.. close your eyes...Go back before the internet... before semiautomatics and crack... before Sega or super Nintendo... way back...
I'm talking about hide and seek. 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 a 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 and Bullwinkle, Fran and Ollie, Spin and Marty,... all in black and white.
When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts...backyard shows, lemonade stands, Cops and robbers, sittin' on the curb, staring 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, being tired from playing... Remember that? Not stepping 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 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 boys and girls. (Keds and PF Flyer) and the only time you wore them was for "gym," And the girls had those ugly uniforms. When it took five minutes for the T.V. to warm up. When nearly every one'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 a another quarter, a huge bonus. When you reach into a muddy gutter for a penny(I still do!)
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then. When your Mom wore nylons that
came in two pieces. When your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done, everyday and wore high heels. Where 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 threaten to keep kids back a grade if they failed... and they 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,
they 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 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 ignition, and he doors were never locked. And you got into 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 came 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 and 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 real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits to the pool...eating Kool-aid powder with sugar.
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate 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 go back and say.
I remember that!
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