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 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 thru the
sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey Mouse Club,
Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fran & Ollie, Spin & 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, Cowboys and Indians,
sitting on the curb, staring at the clouds, jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed, pillow fights, getting "company",
ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree,
Jacke 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 evryone'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 wish, just once, you
could slip back in time and savor the slower pace....
and share it with the children of today....
So 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 Buttermillk....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 of 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.
