The
Good Old Days
-- Author Unknown --
I know a lot of you won't know what
I'm talking about, but try to imagine it.
Close your eyes.....and go back in
time...
Before the Internet or the MAC,
Before semi-automatics and crack,
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back........
I'm talking about hide-and-seek at dusk.
The Good Humor man,
Red light, green light.
The corner store.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, jacks, kickball,
dodgeball.
Mother May I?
Red Rover and Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops.
Running through the sprinkler;
The smell of the sun and licking salty lips....
Wax lips and mustaches!
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night;
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan.
A Cherry Coke from the soda fountain at the corner drug
store.
Wait......
Watching Saturday morning cartoons...
short commercials...
Fat Albert, Road Runner, He-Man, The Three Stooges, and
Bugs, or
staying up for Gunsmoke.
Or back further, listening to Superman on the radio.
When around the corner seemed far away,
And going downtown seemed like going Somewhere.
A million mosquito bites.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Zorro.
Climbing trees.
Building igloos out of snow banks.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather was.
Running 'til you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Jumping on the bed.
Pillow fights.
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause
for giggles.
Being tired from playing.... Remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a
motorcycle.
I'm not finished yet -- eating Kool-aid powder.
Remember when...
There were only two types of sneakers for girls and boys:
Keds & PF Flyers,
and the only time you wore them at school was for "Gym."
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best"
friends.
When nobody owned a purebred dog.
When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another
quarter was a miracle.
When milk went up a penny and everyone talked about it
for weeks.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and
gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time.
And you didn't pay for air in the tires.
And you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels
hidden inside the box.
When nearly everyone's Mom was at
home when the kids got there.
When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you
had one.
When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
When it was magic when dad would "remove" his
thumb.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out
to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high
school, if then.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female
teachers had their hair done.
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 they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they
failed..and did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to what awaited a misbehaving student when
arriving 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
And some of us are still afraid of
them!
Didn't that feel good,...just to go back and say, Yeah, I
remember that!
Remember when............
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do
over!"
"Race issue," meant arguing about who ran the
fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in
"Monopoly."
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was
cooties.
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic
event.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a
slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
New abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog
dare."
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the
fiercest protectors.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have
LIVED!!
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