Back In Time
Close your eyes.....and go back in time....before the Internet or the Palm, before semi-automatics and crack...before SEGA or Super Nintendo... Way back........ I'm talking about playing hide and seek at dusk.... Wait, there's more...... Watching Saturday Morning cartoons A million mosquito bites. When spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles. The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. I'm not finished just yet... Remember when... When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box. When it was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb. 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 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! 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." Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!
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 fountain at the corner drug store
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
Hearing great boxing matches...on the radio.
When around the corner seemed far away,
And going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
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.
Running till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Jumping on the bed.
Pillow fights
Being tired from playing.... Remember that?
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Eating Kool-aid powder
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."
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Nobody owned a purebred dog.
Twenty five cents was a decent allowance, and another quarter a miracle.
Milk went up one cent and everyone talked about it for weeks?
You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
all without asking, for free, every time.
And, you didn't pay for air.
And, you got trading stamps to boot!
Nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
It took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you even had one.
Your mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
Girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then.
All of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done.
When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed ... and did!
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.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
Originally published November 14, 2002.
