A friend passed this on to me and I thought I would share it with you. I want my kids to grow up like we did. I want them to experience the same things I did when I was a kid. Will it happen? Probably not. But it’s what I wish for…
Close your eyes…and go back
before the internet or PC or the MAC…
before semi-automatics and crack…
before Playstation, SEGA, SUper Nintendo, even before Atari…
before cell phones, CD’s, DVD’s, voicemail and e-mail…
way back…
way, way, way back…
I’m talkin’ bout Hide and Seek at dusk
Red Light, Green Light
Red Rover, Red Rover
Playing Kickball and Dodgeball until the first, no second, no third streetlight came on
Ring Around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot Potato
Hop Scotch
Jump Rope
Duck, Duck, GOOSE!!!
YOU’RE IT!!!
Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home-no pagers or cell phones
Mother May I?
Hula Hoops
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 two sticks you could break and share with a friend
But wait…there’s more…
Watchin’ Saturday morning cartoons
Fat Albert, Road Runner, Smurfs, Picture Pages, G-Force & He-Man
Schoolhouse Rock
Watchin Sunday morning oldies (Abbott & Costello and Three Stooges)
Wonder Woman & Super Man underoos
FONZIE…”AYYYYYY”
Playing Dukes of Hazard
Christmas morning
Your first day of school
Goodnight kisses
Climbing trees
Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky
Getting an ice cream off the Good Humor truck
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin’ down the steps
Jumpin’ on the bed
Pillow fights
Sleep-overs
A 13″ black and white TV in your room meant you were RICH
Runnin’ till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from PLAYING
WORK meant taking out the garbage or doing 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 meant playing “Heads Up 7 up” or Hangman” in the classroom, remember that?
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
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
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance
and another quarter a MIRACLE!
When ANY parent could disciplne ANY kid, or feed him, or use him to carry groceries,
and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it
When being sent to the Principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home
Basically, we were in fear of our lives but it wasn’t because of drive-by shootngs, drugs, gangs, etc…
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of em!
Didn’t that feel good? Just to go back and say “Yeah, I remember that!”
Well, let’s keep going!
Decisions were made by going “eeny-meeny-miney-mo”
Mistakes were corrected by simply stating “DO OVER!”
“Race issues” meant arguing about who ran the fastest
“Money issues” were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly
Catching polywogs could happily occupy a morning
It wasn’t odd to have two or three “best” friends
Being old referred to anyone over 20
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties
Nobody was prettier than Mom
Scrapes and bruises were kissed by Mom or Grandma 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 (or for some of us…getting a foot in the snow!)
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
Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your fiercest protector
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their “grown up” life…
I TRIPLE DOG DARE YA!!!
Ain’t that the truth! I miss those simple days.