Do you still remember what it was like to be a kid? What were the things that marked that childhood? What games did you play down the street, or in the schoolyard? What were your favorite candies and cartoons?
This blast from the past will intrigue you, whether it is your time or way before. Enjoy.
If you are old enough . . .Take a stroll with me . . .close your eyes . . .and go back . . .way back…before the Internet . . .before semiautomatics and crack . . .before SEGA or Super Nintendo . . .way, 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 , Old Maid, Hearts 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, add-a pearl necklace, bobby pins, The Mickey Mouse Club, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty . . .all in black & white.
When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. You bought most of what you needed at the fruit stand, corner market or at the Five & Dime. Your milk and butter were delivered to your door by a man in a clean, white uniform. Your milk was in a glass bottle and you had to drain the cream off the top.
Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts . . .backyard shows, lemonade stands, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, 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, Red Skelton, white gloves, walking to church, walking to the movie theater, being tickled to death, running ’til 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. Going trick or treating all night and getting a big, fat bag of candy. . .
Remember . . . when there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyers) 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 you knew all the names of every neighbor on the street and the whole community turned out for the 4th of July fireworks and the Home-coming parade.
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 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, Sky King, 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 . . .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 grand-parents 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 that”?