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 talking' about hide and go seek at dusk.
Sitting' 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, 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,
sitting' 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 hurt, 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 big bubbly handwriting, who
dotted her "i's" with hearts? The Stroll, popcorn balls, & sock hops .
Remember 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 today . . .
So refer this 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 that!!!"