Re-mem-mem, Re-mem-a-member When..

Yesterday was a day of wondering what's next with this country of ours. I was upset all day over something I had heard on television and even wrote a really long post about it. But I couldn't let myself post it. In fact, the only post I did was Patricks Sunday 7 at my other journal. I kept going back to what I had written and knew that the whole thing was my feelings on it... my opinion. And like most things that involve religion or politics it is surely controversial. I try always not to talk of either of those subjects and so i decided not to post it. But I couldn't shake it enough to sit and write about anything else.

That took up most of my day! sheesh. Today is a rainy day (again)..it seems we are getting more then usual this year, and surely more thunderstorms then normal. It was evening before I could clear my mind enough to, once again, do a little editing on "book 2" of Kesterwood. (remember i'm editing in reverse) Thankfully, doing that pulled me out of the mood I had been in all day.

This morning i received an email from a friend, it was one of those that you go to a web site and with music in the back ground it listed things for the "more mature" folk, asking "do you remember?" and had the longest list I've ever come across. Normally, if I read these I remember most of what they list and a few that i don't. This time there wasn't a thing on the list that I didn't remember! Good gawd... when did I get this old????

I think as one reads them (and if they are old enough to truly remember them) little flashes of memories come to mind. Not necessarily specific, but in general. And since it was a time when you really weren't thinking real hard on what life would be like when you are no longer that young, it's a small piece of freedom. Most ask at the end of a list like that, if you wouldn't want to go back to "those times". The truth is, most would!

For me I thought, yes I would like to revisit that time, but not "to be young again" necessarily, but because when we were that young (and those that are now) are free of major responsibilities, free to think only of theirself. It was a time of ignorance of what's to come (not that its all bad) and to be not to have major worries or concerns. So, would I like to feel like that again? You betcha ! But would I like to be young again? Well... not THAT young! But I wouldn't mind having the 10 yrs of my 40's again. (that's when i think i felt the best health wise and there still felt like there was many good years to live)

So tell me... do YOU remember any of the below list??

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?

It took five minutes for the TV warm up?

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?

Nobody owned a pure bred dog?

When a quarter was a decent allowance?

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?

All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had
their hair done every day and wore high heels?

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?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . ...and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise,
peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were
because they were always in the car,
in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in 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?

When being sent to the principals office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives,
but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy,
Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery,
the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows,
Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.

As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games,
Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool,
and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?

How many of these do you remember?

Candy cigarettes

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

Coffee shops with table side jukeboxes

Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

Newsreels before the movie

P.F. Fliers

Telephone numbers with Party lines

Peashooters

Howdy Doody

45 RPM records

Green Stamps

Hi-Fi's

Metal ice cubes trays with levers

Beanie and Cecil

Roller-skate keys

Drive ins

Washtub wringers

Reel-To-Reel tape recorders

Tinkertoys

Erector Sets

The Fort Apache Play Set

Lincoln Logs

5 cent packs of baseball cards -
with that awful pink slab of bubble gum

Penny candy

35 cent a gallon gasoline

Do you remember a time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?

It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?

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

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?

War was a card game?

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

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?