I came across the following on the Internet. Most were from my era, but some were from a later time. And, this list of memories was from a suburban surrounding where they had electricity and TV. I have added a few toward the end.
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
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 in 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 at Christmas
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 'cause 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?
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.
A
lot of good memories here.
Most
were from my era, but some were from a later era.
And this list of memories was from a suburban surrounding where they had
electricity and TV. Do you remember
a few that may have preceded these? Like,
Remember
the battery radio with an outside antennae wire that we disconnected just before
a thunderstorm for fear that a lightening strike would ruin the radio?
Remember
the radio battery was a huge thing, bigger than a toaster and the radio had
tubes?
Remember
how the radio battery's power would become low and you rationed the radio
programs to preserve the battery as long as you could?
Remember
how you kept turning up the volume as the radio battery's power became weaker
and weaker until the volume was all the way up and you were putting your ear up
to the radio to get the last gasping sound?
Remember
carrying water in a bucket into the house from a pump that was outside.
Remember
having to cause the pump to lose its prime so the pump wouldn't freeze during
the night?
Remember
carrying up firewood to put around a huge pot that was outside to heat water so
your mother could wash clothes with a rubbing board.
Remember heating the same pot for rendering lard from having butchered a
hog. Then later making lye soap in
the same pot using the cracklings from the lard rendering.
Remember
the "Coal Oil" lamps? They
were really Kerosene lamps. Remember
how if somebody opened an outside door the wind would blow out the lamp?
Then you felt your way through the dark trying to find the lamp to
relight it and not grasp the top of the lamp globe but the bottom so as not to
get severely burned. Remember you
lit the lamp with "kitchen matches"?
Remember
kicking off your shoes around Easter and going barefoot all summer?
Remember your technique for getting through the grass burrs and cockle
burrs in your bare feet?
Remember
Polio? We were told several things to avoid in order to not get
polio. For example, don't eat watermelon too close to the rind, and don't go
swimming in the old muddy farm ponds (tanks).
Remember
the stories that if you swallowed seeds, they would sprout in your stomach?
Especially green peanuts.
Remember
summer sores and the alleged cure was eating raisins and the treatment was
putting sulfur on the sores?
Remember
ringworm?
Remember
long handled underwear and Vick's Vapor Rub?
Remember
when a common form of transportation was hitchhiking?
Remember
stealing watermelons? Croton oil?
Remember
Little Brown Koko?
I'll
bet some of you can embellish this list and add to: "Yeah, I remember
that".