TAKE A WALK WITH ME . . . Down Memory Lane .
.
If you are old enough...
(and even if you aren't you'll enjoy this)
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, Kukla, 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 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 &
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 you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. 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 at a real restaurant 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 ...
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!
So for now...
back to that rough and rugged road, only 500 miles to go!
J. Michael Smith, KYCH
|
