Close your eyes...And go back.
Before the Internet or PC or the MAC,
Before semi-automatics and crack,
Before Play-station, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari...
Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail....
Go way back… way, way, way back...
Go back.
I'm talking bout hide and seek at dusk Red light, Green light Red Rover....Red Rover..... Playing kickball & dodge-ball until the first… no, second... no... third street light came on.
Ring around the Rosie, London Bridge, Hot potato, Hop Scotch, Jump rope,
TAG… YOU'RE IT!!
Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home - no pagers or cell phones
Take One Giant Step... May I? 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...
Watching Saturday Morning cartoons Tom and Jerry, serial adventures, Captain Midnight, Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Boston Blackie.
Catching 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 in those long swings to try and reach the sky.
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers, Jumping down the steps, Jumping on the bed, Pillow fights, Running home from the western movie you just saw 'til you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Being tired from PLAYING. WORK: meant taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, washing the car, 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 and the smell of damp concrete and chalk erasers
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 of your bike.
Attaching pieces of cardboard to your bike frame to rub against your spokes.
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 from school.
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 your parents took you to the cafeteria and it was a real treat.
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. We simply did not want our parents to get mad at us.
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.
Catching 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.
Nobody was prettier than Mom. Scrapes and bruises were kissed by mom and made better.
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.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived during a more pleasant simpler time !
I wonder how many of you that I have sent this to remember all of these things. I know some of you are my vintage.
Those of you who remember will have lived in an era that no one else will ever experience. The era has passed and slowly those of us who lived it are passing also. If you do not remember, then ask your parents, grand parents or great grand parents. We went from am radio to the stars. Your era is here, be part of it. Make it worthwhile for future generations to build on.
Keep God in your lives.
We did.
