HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER???


GO BACK IN TIME....
Before the Internet or the PC.

Before semiautomatics and crack.

Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...


WAY BACK........
I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk.

The Good Humor man.

Red light, green light.

Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, jacks, kickball, dodgeball.

Mother May I?

Red Rover and Hula Hoops

Running through the sprinkler

The smell of the sun and licking salty lips....

Eating Kool-Aid powder

Wax lips and mustaches

Lemonade stands (5 cents!)

An ice cream cone on a warm summer night, Chocolate or vanilla or 
strawberry or maybe butter pecan.


WAIT......
Watching Saturday Morning cartoons...

Short commercials

Fat Albert, Road Runner, He-Man,

The Three Stooges, and Bugs, Jem, Thundercats,

Or staying up for TGIF

Or back further, when around the corner seemed far away,

And going downtown seemed like really going somewhere.

A million mosquito bites.

Sticky fingers.

Cops and Robbers.

Cowboys and Indians

SPUD

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

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

Being tired from playing.... Remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

War was a card game.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.


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."

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

When nobody owned a purebred dog.

When a dollar was a decent allowance, and another dollar was a miracle.

When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.

It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a 
real restaurant with your parents. 

When any parent could discipline any kid, or use him to carry groceries, 
and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed ..and did!

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


REMEMBER WHEN....
Decisions were made by going"eeny-meeny-miney-mo."

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.

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest 
protectors.