I'm talking 'bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sitting on the porch, Simon Says, Kick the Can, Red Light, Green Light. Lunch Boxes with a Thermos...that broke, Chocolate milk, going home for lunch, Penny Candy from the store, Hopscotch, butterscotch, double-dutch, jump rope, skates with keys, Jacks, Mother May I?
Hula Hoops, and Sunflower seeds, Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights, Wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom
Running through the sprinkler, Running behind The DDT truck, circle pins, bobby pins, flicker rings, Spoolies, Fizzies, Mickey Mouse Club, Crusader Rabbit, 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...Coasters made from orange crates and an old skate, Backyard Shows, Lemonade stands, Slip and Slide (attached to the garden hose), glittered macaroni, Colorforms, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Sitting on the curb, Staring at clouds, Jumping down the steps, Jumping on the bed.
Pillow fights, "company," Ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree. Running from the guards at Halloween with pillow sacks of giant nickel Hershey bars. Ringing doorbells and disappearing in a fit of laughter.
The jingle of the pink and white ice cream truck and a 7 cent popsicle. Stealing ice chips from the back of the Hood delivery truck. Punks and sparklers on the 4th of July. Jackie Gleason as "the poor soul," White gloves, Easter bonnets, walking to church, walking to the Community Center, 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 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, book bags and Evening in Paris...Crowding around in a circle for the 'after-school fight,' then running when the teacher came. Abba Zabba bars and peanut logs.
What about the girl that had the big bubbly handwriting...who dotted her "I's" with hearts?? The Stroll, the twist, the monkey, popcorn balls, & sock hops. Ankle socks before nylons! Rolled up jean shorts. Flats.... taps on a guy's Snap jack buckle shoes. Vitalis!
Remember when... When there were two types of sneakers for girls (Keds and 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.
The smell of Old Spice, Dad in his gray brimmed hat, white shirt, and scrolled wingtips. When nobody owned a pure bred 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, 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.
Remember playing monopoly for days, the chore of hanging clothes on the line, making popcorn in a big pot with oil to start and shaking and shaking it! Or Jiffy pop that turned charcoal if you got distracted! Taking walks at night.
Phone numbers starting with a word....like Locust 3-5334 or Olympic 3-6026. Saturday matinees with tons of cartoons, 5c and 10c stores with wooden floors, Going for a ride in the car as 'something to do', 45's (only 2 songs) and a case to hold them!
When "Wonderful World of Disney" was the only color TV program! Adjusting the rabbit ears on the TV, ooooh and those aluminum glasses that made your teeth chill!
'Sifting' flour (according to the Betty Crocker Cookie Book at Christmastime), Real balogna sandwiches (Who can find that same balogna today?) and TV jingles that danced in your head and got stuck there! (Mr. Clean takes care of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute...)
Seesaw and kaylah at the playground, fire flies flickering at night, and a twilight soak in Mr. Bubble.
Remember being able to walk or bicycle ride anywhere and no one worried about you getting "snatched"? We worried about copperhead snakes on our shortcuts through the woods, poison ivy, but never strangers. Remember red pistachio nuts that you used as fingernails....and lightening bug fingernails...(gross now, but fun then)!
Freeze tag, TV tag, Chinese jump rope, 7-up, spending the day cracking open coconuts that floated up in the canals ...and eating them (cholesterol what?)
Neccos, Bazooka, Mighty Mouse, Gumby... How about ... grow your own sea-monkeys that you could buy from the back of comic books and superballs in every color of the rainbow!
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 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. No one ever had a key. Cars got a new look every year and we knew all the makes and models.
And 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.
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 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...??????
Are you someone who can still recall 3D glasses, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong the All American Boy, The Shadow knows...Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.
The sound of a real reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, roller skates with wheels at the 4 corners, playing in Cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar? If so... GOOD FOR YOU!
Isn't great to be able to look back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?