REMEMBER WHEN:
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 all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their
hair done 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 it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
dinner at a real restaurant with your parents; when the worst thing you could
do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum; 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 yarn, so it
would fit her finger.
And 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. 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 ... " Remember jumping
waves at the ocean (Gulf) for hours in that cold water; and playing baseball
with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game, because 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, because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect
stranger? And with all our progress, don't you wish, just once, you
could slip back in time and savor the slower pace and share it with the
children of today.
Remember 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.
Go back with me for a minute....
Before the Internet or the MAC...
before semi automatics and crack ...
before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back ....
I'm talking about hide and go seek at dusk, red light, green
light, kick the can, playing kickball & dodge ball until your porch light
came on ... and mother may I? red rover, hula hoops, roller skating to music, running
through the sprinkler...
And. . . Catching lightning bugs in a
jar; Christmas morning; your first day of school; bedtime prayers and
goodnight kisses; climbing trees; getting an ice cream off the ice
cream truck; a million mosquito bites and sticky fingers; jumping on the bed;
pillow fights; running till you were out of breath; laughing so hard your
stomach hurt; being tired from playing; your first crush...remember that?
Remember when thought we’d be convicted and sent to prison if we removed
those warning tags from pillows, lawn cushions, sleeping bags, etc., only to
find out many years later that it is illegal to remove them BEFORE they are
sold?
What about all
the safety warnings, such as “Climbing or Pulling on this TV Cart will cause
Television to tip over, often resulting in serious injury or death.” Our warnings were: “Yeah,
let that damn thing fall on you a time or two, and you won’t do it any more.”
I'm not finished yet. . .
Kool-Aid was the drink of summer, with the Funny Face drinks
coming in a close second; toting your friends on your handle bars; wearing
your new shoes on the first day of school and class field trips; Soaping
windows on Halloween. Didn't that feel
good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! There's nothing like
the good old days. They were good then, and they're good now when we think
about them.
Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate,
then share it with someone that missed out on them. I want to go back to the
time when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
and mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!"
"Race issue" 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; making milk come out of
your nose was funny, and it wasn't odd to have two or three "best"
friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20 and the worst thing you could catch
from the opposite sex was cooties. Scrapes and bruises were kissed 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; girls were gross (until we turned 12, at least).
Women wore hats in church every Sunday,
and curlers in public at other times; on Sundays, you were preached Hellfire
and Damnation by screaming preachers, and being rebellious meant going with
your shirt tail out.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
(Ed. Note: Or worse, a “triple-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 weapon; and older siblings
were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors. And, despite of
what anyone said, we knew that if we made funny or ugly faces, that our mouth
wouldn’t grow that way for the rest of our lives.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have
LIVED!!!!
Ed. Note: The above
memories are not (all) my work. They
were sent to me via e-mail. Remember
when there was no e-mail and we had to wait two or three days to get a
letter? Remember when stamps were 3¢ and Coca-Cola was 6¢ (and still called “Coca-Cola,”
not “Coke.”) and a half-pint of milk (regular
or chocolate) or an ice-cream sandwich or Push-Up was only 5¢; Gas was 29¢ a gallon; a Grit newspaper was 5¢ and a comic book was 10¢ ? Remember when we still said “Hello” when we
saw someone, and said “Yes Ma’am/No Ma’am or Yes Sir or No Sir to our
elders? Remember when the threat of a
spanking was as bad as the spanking itself; when your parents made you cut a
switch for your own spanking (and you’d cut a log instead, in hopes that your
attempt at humor would get you “off the hook”); or when 9:00 p.m. was staying up late? Remember Amos ‘n Andy, the Ted Mack Amateur
Hour, Ed Sullivan, Captain Kangaroo, Beanie & Cecil, Mighty Mouse, Sky
King, Roy Rogers, and Romper Room?
Those were the days.
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Hey, We Made It!!!
If you lived as a child in the 40's,
50's, 60's or 70's.............
Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a
special treat.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based
paint.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or
cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to
mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the
bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back
when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. We
also learned that, if you kick the pole hard enough, it would temporarily put
out the street light.
No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball
and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones
and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents.
They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember
accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and
learned to get over it.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugary soda but we
were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared
one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle, and no one died
from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, GameCubes,
X-Boxes, video games at all, 99
channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, DVD players,
personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we
had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes
or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell
or just walked in and talked to them.
Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By
ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a
guardian! How did we do it?
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and
although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many
eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those
who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment.....
Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a
grade and were held back to repeat the same grade..... Horrors!
Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
We didn’t have warning signs on TV carts that warned us not to climb
on them, because they might tip over and cause injury. Our warning was, “Yeah…Let that damn thing
fall on you a couple of times, and you’ll learn ! ”
We took knives to school to show our friends, not to take their
life. We used REAL firecrackers, and
learned that the old M-80s
and Cherry Bombs were good for making a lot of noise and blowing up tin cans
(and the occasional frog), instead of blowing up each other. We didn’t kill other people for their
shoes.
We learned that there is no better honor than to receive a standing
ovation, and to ALWAYS stand when the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, or
when the Star Spangled Banner was played.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No
one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we
broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law,
imagine that!
We learned to respect the law, rather than to try to kill
policemen. We knew we’d get in trouble
for stealing watermelons (but they sure tasted good), and, if caught, we’d
have to do some chore, such as mow the grass of the person that owned the
watermelons.
We learned that, when we sat down to the table, if we didn’t like what
was on the plate, we ate it anyway, or went hungry.
Our youth taught us to build treehouses and
forts, to dig caves, build our own soapbox racers, and that we could have
just as much fun with our imagination, than with all the toys in the
world. We wanted to go camping every
night, and to read comic books all day.
When we were kids, we knew what a womanless wedding or a donkey
ballgame was, and also knew that, when we saw someone wearing earrings, they
were either women, or a man in a womanless wedding (or, in my case, a
pirate). Bowties were cool. Baths were optional. Our generation didn’t have 97% fewer cavities because we had
97% fewer teeth.
We actually worried because the rabbit never got the Trix, and that nothing – I repeat – NOTHING was ever
better than mama’s fried chicken.
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation
and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.
We learned that, although we tried to get away with it as an excuse,
the dog rarely ate our homework.
And, if you’ve experienced any of these things, you're one of the lucky
ones.
Congratulations!
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
IF I KNEW
If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord,
your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be
the last time
that I see you walk
out the door,
I would give you a hug and
kiss
and call you back for
one more.
If I knew it would be
the last time
I'd hear your voice
lifted up in praise,
I would video tape
each action and word,
so I could play them
back day after day.
If I knew it would be
the last time,
I could spare an extra
minute
to stop and say "I LOVE
YOU,"
instead of assuming
you would KNOW I do.
If I knew it would be
the last time
I would be there to
share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll
have so many more,
so I can let just
this one slip away.
For surely there's
always tomorrow
to make up for an
oversight,
and we always get a
second chance
to make everything
just right.
There will always be
another day
to say "I LOVE
YOU,"
And certainly there's
another chance
to say our
"Anything I can do?"
But just in case I
might be wrong,
and today is all I
get,
I'd like to say how
much I love you
and I hope we never
forget.
Tomorrow is not promised
to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the
last chance
you get to hold your
loved one tight.
So if you're waiting
for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never
comes,
you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take
that extra time
for a smile, a hug,
or a kiss
and you were too busy
to grant someone,
what turned out to be
their one last wish.
So hold your loved
ones close today,
and whisper in their
ear,
Tell them how much
you love them
and that you'll
always hold them dear
Take time to say
"I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive
me," "Thank you," or "It's okay."
And if tomorrow never
comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Paul Harvey Writes:
We tried so hard to make things better for our
kids that we made them worse. For my
grandchildren, I’d like better.
I’d really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice
cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by
being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old
dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it’s
all right if you have to draw a line down the
middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you
because he’s scared, I hope you let him.
When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag
along, I hope you’ll let him/her.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live
in a town where you can do it safely.
On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don’t ask your driver
to drop you two blocks away so you won’t be
seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead
of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in
your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a
boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory
soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and
stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I don’t care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don’t like it. And if a
friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize
he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go
fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during
the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your
neighbor’s window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas
time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and
happiness. To me, it’s the only way to appreciate life.
The Land That Made Me "Me"
Long ago and far away,
In a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan,
Or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents,
And they were you and me,
Long ago and far away
In the Land That Made Me Me.
Oh, there was truth and goodness
In that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges,
And Peyton Place was porn.
For Ike was in the White House,
And Hoss was on TV,
And God was in His heaven
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We learned to gut a muffler,
We washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry
In circles on the lawn.
And they could hear us coming
All the way to Tennessee
,
All starched and sprayed and rumbling
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We longed for love and romance,
And waited for the prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz,
And no one's seen him since.
We danced to "Little Darlin'",
And Sang to "Stagger Lee"
And cried for Buddy Holly
In the Land That Made Me Me.
Only girls wore earrings then,
And three was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts,
Except for Jean McKinney
And only in our wildest dreams
Did we expect to see
A boy named George, with Lipstick
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We fell for Frankie Avalon,
Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie,
They never made it twice.
We didn't have a Star Trek Five,
Or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty
In the Land That Made Me Me.
Miss Kitty had a heart of gold,
And Chester
had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat
Whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr Wizard,
But not a Mr T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We had our share of heroes,
We never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin,
Or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal,
And life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever,
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We'd never seen the rock band
That was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson
,
And Zeppelins weren't Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then,
And Monkees in a tree,
Madonna was a virgin
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We'd never heard of Microwaves,
Or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed,
But they weren't grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out,
And "gay" meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never coed
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We hadn't seen enough of jets
To talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left
at the bottom of the bag.
And Hardware was a box of nails,
And bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction
In the Land That Made Me Me.
Buicks came with portholes,
And side show came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough
To cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles,
And skirts came to the knee,
And Castro came to power
In the Land That Made Me Me.
We had no Crest with Fluoride,
We had no Hill
Street Blues,
We all wore superstructure bras
Designed by Howard Hughes.
We had no patterned pantyhose
Or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for condoms
In the Land That Made Me Me.
There were no golden arches,
No Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda,
And cats were not called Bill.
And middle-aged was thirty-five
And old was forty-three,
And ancient was our parents
In the Land That Made Me Me.
But all things have a season,
Or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline
We swear by Retin-A.
And they send us invitations
To join A A R P,
We've come a long way, baby,
From the Land That Made Me Me.
So now we face a brave new world
In slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using
Smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children
Of the way it used to be,
Long ago, and far away
In the Land That Made Me Me.
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