Remembering

REMEMBER?

When 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 all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done 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.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.

When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum.

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 yarn 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 ... "

Remember jumping waves at the ocean for hours in that cold water.

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...

Remember 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.

Go back with me for a minute....

Before the Internet or the MAC
Before semi automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...Waaaaaay back ....
I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk.
Red light, Green light.
Kick the can.
Playing kickball & dodge ball until your porch light came on.
Mother May I?
Red Rover
Hula Hoops
Roller skating to music
Running through the sprinkler

WAIT!!!!!....

Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning ....
Your first day of school
Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses
Climbing trees
Getting an Ice Cream off the Ice Cream Truck
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin' on the bed
Pillow fights
Runnin' till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from playin'....
Your first crush. Remember that?

I'M NOT FINISHED YET!!!!!!!!

Kool-aid was the drink of summer
Toting your friends on your handle bars
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school
Class Field Trips
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say,
Yeah, I remember that!
There's nothing like the good old days.

They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them.

Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate, then share it with someone that missed out on them.

I want to go back to the time when............

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!"
"Race issue"; meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old, referred to anyone over 20.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!

Morph, thank you for the Time Machine. Reading your lovely post gave me some of my happiest memories again. You are so sweet.

My husband sent this to me and I enjoyed it so, too! I wanted to share it with everyone and NOT just copy people on an email! I'm glad you enjoined it, Kathy :)

This message was edited Wednesday, Oct 9th 10:00 PM

I didn't have a dog, we lived in hotels,
we didn't have a car, we were in NYC,
we ate almost every meal in a dining room or ordered up room service,
We didn't have a school playground, just a fenced in, paved over small lot
I never went steady; we moved too often.
I was a girl so never played baseball,
I jumped on the bed, though, and fell off and hit my head on a radiator and got a concussion
Then we moved to Savannah and I ran completely amok.
We bought a bungalow on a tidal creek.
I swam, boated, crabbed, tried to learn to smoke (horrors!) and started gardening. All I can do now is try to bring some of those values you all grew up with, to my kids and grandchildren.
But thanks for all those cool memories.........

This message was edited Sunday, Oct 13th 9:13 AM

Thanks Morph and woodspirit also.

:) Woodspirit (:

wow, I actually got tears in my eyes reliving some of those moments. had horrible parents, but even with that, I had some great times.

Yes, though they don't all apply to me either, it seemed a simpler and happier time. I wonder what the children of today will remember when they've grown into adults.

I don't want to puncture this balloon but I have a memory that I wanted to relate; I never got over it.
My sister visited recently and we talked about playing in Central Park. She reminded me of a day a little Puerto Rican boy ran in front of swings. These were heavy wooden swings with metal wrapped around the edges. It hit him at the temple. He staggered off. A little later the same boy fell off the top of a very tall sliding board. Even later, he went to play on large rock outcroppings and fell a 3rd time. He died. Glee (my sister) was saying, "Where was that boy's parents?" and also, "I wonder who the poor kid was that was swinging that hit him." She didn't know, until last month while she was here that it was me.

I'm a little confused... Did you collide with him while you were swinging? If so, I feel badly for the incident, but where were his parents or his sitter? They are the ones responsible and not anyone else. How tragic. I'm so sorry.

Yes, I was the one that collided with him. I was standing up swinging. In fact, so high that I went above 90 deg. and the swing would actually fall back into its arc. when he ran in front of the swing, and I hit him, I nearly fell off. I was so frightened that I was shaking when the swing stopped. I didn't actually see him fall off the sliding board, but others did. He died in the rock formation about 15 minutes later. You never forget something like that, even if it wasn't your fault. But my sister had no idea....

Morph, that was our question.......where were his parents? I don't remember much about the final part of the accident; just the ambulance.

Wood.........this was NOT YOUR FAULT!!! I hurt so bad for you, and the living nightmare this is apparently to you. Please know this....for everything, there is a reason. God was ready to take that little boy home that day, for reasons of his own. It did take 3 strikes to get him though. The joy and the pain of childhood both have traumatic effects on our lives. God Bless you!!

"eyes"

Gee Morph,sounds almost like my years
growing up-what about a good old coke
in a glass bottle-5 and 10 cents back
then. Playing on the may pole.
Watching Dark shadows,wagon train,ect
on tv and cartoons were decent!
Orange Crush cola-moon pies and RC'
cola. Paper dolls,lincoln logs.
Other games like Operation-which i still
have mine and the monopoly game.
Roller skaking-with the old metal
skates.

Oh yes, Bitty, the 5 and 10 cent coke glass bottles ~ I loved those! Ditto on the others, too! Memories can be so fun :)

Wood, yes, I was thinking where his parents would have been as you mentioned. Such a tragedy but Eyes puts it into a good perspective. I would have felt like you when you mentioned how shaky you were. I'm surprised that that, in and of itself, didn't slow the poor boy down a bit. Many of those playground toys were not all that safe...

Woodspirit, ((((( hugs )))))) I know you must be suffering in your memories, but it was not your fault. Stop torturing yourself over something that happened a long time ago. Kids play; that is what they do. Adults should be aware of small children, to make sure they are kept safe in the world: not other kids. I can't begin to know how you must feel, knowing that the accident COULD have been prevented, but not by you, as a child. I am very thankful you were not injured in that accident: we wouldn't have known our friend.

Bitty: Dark Shadows! I loved it as a kid. And can I admit here that I also loved Sonny and Cher? Or is that too corny? LOL

I didn't drink pop much as a kid, but I do remember collecting all the empties from the town to take back to the store to get the 2 cents deposit. I usually would get a quarter a week doing that. Free money.

Remember the thrill of riding your bike with someone on the handlebars? How about sitting on the handlebars with the driver not holding on? Simple pleasures of childhood.

Guess I'm corny cuz I loved Sonny & Cher!

The truth is, I have not been haunted by that tragedy. I had managed nicely to put it aside, because tormenting myself over it wouldn't do that kid or anyone else any good (least of all, me). But when my sister was here, it was her shock to find out I was the one on the swing. She brought up the subject on her own. So you see, even she was traumatized enough to still remember this so clearly and she didn't even know it was me. It's been about 50 years ago...