Please note that these links do exist -- but
they're in the process of being shuffled around a little because of some
asshole making an issue of my web sites in court. If one doesn't work today
-- it will very soon. I'm guessing November 30, 2005!
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, saddle shoes and Coke
bottles with the names of cities on the bottom, running through the
sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, 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. 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 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 refer 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 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
that!
