....Before semi-automatics and crack....
....Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari...
....Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail....
....Go way back......way.....way.....way back.....
Go back.
I'm talkin' bout hide and seek at dusk
Red light, Green light
Red Rover....Red Rover.....
Playing kickball & dodgeball until the first
...no...second...
no...third...street light came on
Ring around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot potato
Hop Scotch
Jump rope
YOU'RE IT!!
Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home - no pagers or cell phones
Take One Giant Step..... May I?
Seeing shapes in the clouds.
Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the windows open.
The sound of crickets.
Running through the sprinkler.
Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize in the bottom.
Cracker jacks with the same thing.
Ice pops with 2 sticks you could break and share with a friend.
.but wait.……
..there's more...
Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons Tom and Jerry, serial adventures,
Captain Midnight, Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Boston Blackie.
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning.
Your first day of school.
Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses.
Climbing trees.
Swinging as high as you could in those long swings to try and reach the sky.
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers.
Jumpin' down the steps.
Jumpin' on the bed.
Pillow fights.
Runnin' home from the western movie you just saw 'til you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Being tired from PLAYING.
WORK: meant taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, washing the car, or doing the dishes.
Your first crush.
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth CLOSED and your eyes OPEN)
Rainy days at school and the smell of damp concrete and chalk erasers
Oh, I'm not finished yet....
Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer.
So was a swig from the hose.
Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars of your bike.
Attaching pieces of cardboard to your bike frame to rub against your spokes.
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.
Class Field Trips with soggy sandwiches.
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there from school.
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a MIRACLE
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 your parents took you to the cafeteria and it was a real treat.
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. We simply did not want our parents to get mad at us.
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!" Well, let's keep going!!
Let's go back to the time when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed by mom and made better.
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, ultimate weapon.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived during a more pleasant simpler time !
Those of you who remember will have lived in an era that no one else will ever experience. The era has passed and slowly those of us who lived it are passing also. If you do not remember, then ask your parents, grand parents or great grand parents. We went from am radio to the stars.
Your era is here, be part of it. Make it worthwhile for future generations to build on.
We did.
31 comments:
Happy St Patrick's Day! Wanna jump rope later?
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I remember... being allowed to play fast pitch when girls weren't allowed to play. Hanging upside down on monkey bars looking at the concrete underneath me. Having fun drinking the juice out of the waxy sticks..then letting the sun melt them on the ground in order to use a popsicle stick to pick at it.
Simple times..
Can you come over for PB&J's and a game of Simon Says and Yahtzee? What about Monopoly - then you can be here ALL DAY!
I just finished Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine for the millionth time. (1920's childhood, an excellent read)
Beautiful nostalgic post, Julie.
Oh how did you do that and do it so well. You took me straight to an evening just made for going to the drive-in with mom and dad. Oh the anticipation!
And using a piece of drywall (for those that did not have chalk) to outline the hopscotch squares IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR STREET, where the few cars would slow down and we'd immediately remove ourselves from the road. Politeness abounded!!!!
Keys to our roller skates.....oh how I loved the days of yore.
#1
Geez you're old! LOL
Oh man, I have a 9:45 am dentist appt but I just HAD to read through your post. I LOVE IT!!!
Memories, sweet, sweet memories. How I yearn for those days again.
Estela in South TX
Great memories! I remember coming home and doing my homework, ready to play outside. I couldn't wait to get outside. We'd play jacks and double dutch and hopscotch...or we'd make up our own adventures.
I miss those days. Times sure were simpler.
Thanks for the reminder. Happy St Patricks Day~!
Lord...I don't wanna go back! Don't make me!
But DO stop by my spot and see whatcha got. ;-)
Loved this post. Believe it or not I remember all of those times. and wish like hell they were still here for those today. Simpler times were so much better. My family is working on bringing them back into our household each day. In fact we have had our cable turned off now for two weeks. And you know what, the only one missing it is Trucker. And that's only on race day.
my little one still does a lot of that.. plays hopscotch, rides on handlebars of her friends and visa versa.. I still stand on the back porch and yell for her when its time to come home and the kids all still run through all the backyards to one anothers houses! Guess us country folks are still stuck in the ages! and yes I remember that "First Kiss" Dave V b-day party.. Oh Baby!!!
Happy St Patty's Day! Cher
That was so fun!
"bubble gum bubble gum in a dish
how many pieces do you wish?"
drawing straws was how mom solved any fight over whose turn it was, or who got shotgun in the car.
We played far and wide and always came home when the hunger pains were too great to ignore.
I wish my kids lived in the same world. We had so fun!
Thanks Julie, that was nice!!! It made me smile!
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii juli it was nice it was mind blowing i liked it keep it up.check out my new post
I loved reading those. Its almost like I could smell the memories of playing outside with my sisters...awww thanks.
As kids, we did not dare come home until Mom yodelled or when the street lights came on.
I actually WALKED to school and back at age 6. My kids never walked to school.
My mom use to leave us in the car when she went into the store and nobody took us (hell they didn't want us) or called the cops.
My brother use to send me to the speedy mart (later would become 7-11) with 35 cents to buy him a 16 ounce bottled pepsi that cost only 25 cents. With the dime I would buy a candy bar!
The good ole days!
This is my first time here! I remember tapping the end of the multi-colored striped straw to get the last bits of "pixie dust" candy; making Popsicles in the freezer out of Kool Aid; doing handstands against my family room wall for hours at a time; playing jacks with my girlfriend on the floor; Watching Bewitched, Petticoat Junction, Lost in Space and My Favorite Martian; reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; watching "Cinderella," "West Side Story" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" ONCE a year!!!
OMG, I must be old! I remember all of those things and more, like...
TV Tag, Kick the Can, hula hoops, all day adventures in the deep woods with my older brother & sister, tree houses, making shadow animals in the tent, penny candy, A&W drive-ups, drive-in movies, 50 cent matinees, 25 cents for a box of popcorn, Gilligan's Island, Let's Make A Deal, Beat the Clock, big family meals on Sundays, Chinese fire drills, Woolworths, mood rings, Walter Cronkite, Uncle Gus, Captain Kangaroo, and Mister Rogers.
Those were the days!
Julie this was great!! We were never allowed to stay out until the first street light came on let alone the third. My parents were overprotective them and my Mom worked. I was one of 5 kids who had to stay for lunch rather than come home. My sister, me and the three Butter boys. Their father was killed in Vietnam. I was always asked "Why does your mom work?" I never knew the answer because she just worked.
Thanks for bringing me back to the good ole days.
first time to your blog and just wanted to say hi....love what I see. and this is a great post..."memories"
Any why can't we do that anymore? I used to have wooden blocks that turned into cities, people, cars, guns...we have given our imagination over to computer graphic artists...can we imagine anymore? I will have to try it sometime.
This is absolutely wonderful. I remembered each and every one of those things! Also, remember life before air conditioning? Nothing was better than getting into bed after a long summer day playing. The curtains would blow in the breeze, the air would finally cool and the sounds of the night were the best! Man, I miss those days!
Damn that was good! Now I need a cigarette. Which btw, used to be cool...
I'm as old as I feel...which is old....ummm..happy st. patty's day!!
Oh, yes! And remember rolling down the grassy knolls and getting grass stains on your knees and elbows? The smell of freshly cut grass and, in Arizona at least, the sweet, humid smell of irrigation and the dusty bitterness of oleanders at dusk. That was a nice little stroll down Memory Lane (aka, 7th Street). THANKS!
julie...Outstanding post! I bought my grandgirls a hopscotch rug, so they can play during the winter and sidewalk chalk so they can play outside! I'm trying to bring it all back!!!!
~AM
This is great! We did have a wonderful childhood and it does seem much simpler then than now.
Wow. Have just been back there and back again! A very good trip. I dont believe that other people put cardboard on their bicycle spokes?! I thought I was being clever!!
Great post. Loved it. And what is more, I am trying to give some of that to my kids.
When making forts and playing war and 52 card pick up on rainy days was common.
Thanks for the memories, Jules.
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