Raulandpinboy
<font color=blue>Table-dancing auctioneer<br><font
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2001
Stroll with me.... Close your eyes.... And go back ... before the
Internet ... before bombings, aids, herpes before
semiautomatics and crack ... before SEGA or Super Nintendo ... way back!
I'm talking about sitting on the curb, sitting on the stoop ... about
hide-and-go-seek; Simon says and red-light-green-light. Lunch boxes with a
thermos ... chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the
store, hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, jacks and Cracker Jacks,
hula hoops and sunflower seeds, wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle
shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom.
Remember when it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly
everyone's Mom was at home when the kids arrived home from school.
When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When all of your male
teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday and
wore high heels.
Remember running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey
Mouse Club, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Kookla, Fran and Ollie, Spin and
Marty...Dick Clark's American Bandstand ... all in black and white and your
Mom made you turn it off when a storm came.
When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going
somewhere. Climbing trees, making forts, backyard shows, lemonade stands,
cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, staring at clouds, jumping on the
bed, pillow fights, ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie
Gleason, white gloves, walking to the movie theater, running till you were
out of breath, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt............ remember
that?
Not stepping on a crack or you'd break your mother's back .
Paper-chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington, the
smells of school, of paste and Evening in Paris.
What about the girl who dotted her i's with hearts? (that was before that
stupid smiley face)! The Stroll, popcorn balls and sock hops?
Remember when there were just two types of sneakers for girls and boys Keds
and PF Flyers, and the only time you wore them at school was for gym. And
the girls had those ugly gym uniforms.
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 either,
and you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the
box.
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 flunk a test or chew gum.
And the prom was in the gym or the lunchroom and you danced to a real
orchestra.
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 the 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 survived because their love was so much greater than
the threat.
Remember when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car -- used to cruise, peel
out, lay rubber, scratch off or watch the submarine races?
When people went steady; and girls wore a class ring with an inch of
wrapped Band-Aids, dental floss, or yarn coated with pastel-frost nail
polish so it would fit their finger.
When no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in
the car, in the ignition, and the car and house doors were never locked!
Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying
things like "That cloud looks like a..." And playing baseball with no adults
needed to enforce the rules of the 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 just wish, that just once you could
slip back in time and savor the slower pace...and share it with the children
of today?
This is for those who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy
Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger
and Tonto, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and
Buttermilk... As well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and
Summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, bowling, visits to the
pool ... and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar from the palm of your hand.
There, didn't that feel good? Just to lean back and say: "Yeah...I
remember..."
This is for those who might remember, and those who can see what they
might have missed
Internet ... before bombings, aids, herpes before
semiautomatics and crack ... before SEGA or Super Nintendo ... way back!
I'm talking about sitting on the curb, sitting on the stoop ... about
hide-and-go-seek; Simon says and red-light-green-light. Lunch boxes with a
thermos ... chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the
store, hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, jacks and Cracker Jacks,
hula hoops and sunflower seeds, wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle
shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom.
Remember when it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly
everyone's Mom was at home when the kids arrived home from school.
When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When all of your male
teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday and
wore high heels.
Remember running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey
Mouse Club, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Kookla, Fran and Ollie, Spin and
Marty...Dick Clark's American Bandstand ... all in black and white and your
Mom made you turn it off when a storm came.
When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going
somewhere. Climbing trees, making forts, backyard shows, lemonade stands,
cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, staring at clouds, jumping on the
bed, pillow fights, ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie
Gleason, white gloves, walking to the movie theater, running till you were
out of breath, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt............ remember
that?
Not stepping on a crack or you'd break your mother's back .
Paper-chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington, the
smells of school, of paste and Evening in Paris.
What about the girl who dotted her i's with hearts? (that was before that
stupid smiley face)! The Stroll, popcorn balls and sock hops?
Remember when there were just two types of sneakers for girls and boys Keds
and PF Flyers, and the only time you wore them at school was for gym. And
the girls had those ugly gym uniforms.
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 either,
and you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the
box.
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 flunk a test or chew gum.
And the prom was in the gym or the lunchroom and you danced to a real
orchestra.
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 the 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 survived because their love was so much greater than
the threat.
Remember when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car -- used to cruise, peel
out, lay rubber, scratch off or watch the submarine races?
When people went steady; and girls wore a class ring with an inch of
wrapped Band-Aids, dental floss, or yarn coated with pastel-frost nail
polish so it would fit their finger.
When no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in
the car, in the ignition, and the car and house doors were never locked!
Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying
things like "That cloud looks like a..." And playing baseball with no adults
needed to enforce the rules of the 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 just wish, that just once you could
slip back in time and savor the slower pace...and share it with the children
of today?
This is for those who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy
Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger
and Tonto, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and
Buttermilk... As well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and
Summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, bowling, visits to the
pool ... and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar from the palm of your hand.
There, didn't that feel good? Just to lean back and say: "Yeah...I
remember..."
This is for those who might remember, and those who can see what they
might have missed
