The Good Old Days

If you are old enough...take a stroll with me...close your eyes...
and go back...before the Internet...before semiautomatics and crack...
before SEGA or Super Nintendo...way back...

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...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 through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby
pins, Mickey Mouse Club, 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...backyard shows,
lemonade stands, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, sittin' on the
curb, staring at clouds, jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed, pillow
fights, getting "company," ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie
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 playin' ... Remember that?

Not steppin' 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. What about the stroll, popcorn balls, & sock hops... Remember
when...there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & 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. When nobody
owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance, and
another quarter, a huge bonus.

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 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. 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 a
game.

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 ...

So send this on to someone who can still 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 Buttermilk...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 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.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember
that??