I CLOSE MY EYES AND IT SEEMS LIKE JUST YESTERDAY WE PLAYED THESE
GAMES. MAYBE THAT'S WHY THERE IS MORE DECEASED IN MY 48 YEAR OLD
DAUGHTER'S CLASS OF 76 THAN OURS, EVEN THOUGH WE HAD A FEW MORE
STUDENTS
Close your eyes...And go back...
....Before the Internet or PC or the MAC......
....Before semi-automatics and crack....
...Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before
Atari...
....Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail.....
....way back.....way.....way.....way back.....
I'm talkin' bout hide and seek at dusk
Red light, Green light
Red Rover....Red Rover.....
Playing kickball & dodgeball until the
first...no...second...no...third Streetlight came on
Ring around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot potato
Hop Scotch
Jump rope
Duck....duck....GOOSE!!!
YOU'RE IT!!
Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for
you to come home - no pagers or cell phones
Mother May I?
Hula Hoops
Seeing shapes in the clouds
Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the
windows open
The sound of crickets
Running through the sprinkler
Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize in the bottom
Cracker jacks with the same thing
Ice pops with 2 sticks you could break and share with a friend
...but wait.....there's more....
Watchin' Saturday Morning TV.... Roy Rogers, Sky King, Lone
Ranger
Watchin' Sunday morning oldies (Abbott & Costello, Three
Stooges) Shirley Temple movies, Little Rascals, Ma & Pa Kettle
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning
Your first day of school
Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses
Climbing trees
Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky
Getting an Ice Cream from Mr. Softee
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin' down the steps
Jumpin' on the bed (and getting hit with the yard stick when it
broke....)
Pillow fights
Sleep-overs
Sliding down the banister till your mom yelled
Sliding down the stairs on your butt instead of walking
Runnin' till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from PLAYING
WORK: meant taking out the garbage or doing the dishes
Your first crush
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth CLOSED
and your eyes OPEN)
Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7UP" or hangman" in
The classroom, Remember that?
Oh, I'm not finished yet....
Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer
So was a swig from the hose
Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school
Class Field Trips with soggy sandwiches
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance; and another quarter a MIRACLE
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 you 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 em!
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I
remember that!"
Well, let's keep going!!
Let's go back to the time when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in
"monopoly"
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old, referred to anyone over 20. (CRAP! I'm officially
old!)
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was
cooties.
Nobody was prettier than Mom
Scrapes and bruises were kissed by mom or grandma and made
better
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big
people" rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.
Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your
fiercest protector