Subject: A Stroll Back 50 Years
I know I've seen this before but it is a nice stroll back to a time when
things were simpler, maybe not better, but definately simpler.
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If you are old enough (even if you're not)...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 talkin' 'bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sittin' 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 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, 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, 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 and 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 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 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 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 because no one had yet tried 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 today?
...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