Remember when...

[A Desert Rose]

I so love

my age... and sharing it with people who know my life experiences, too. Thank you guys. It's a smiling day for several of us, I think

 

[curious2c]

Rose

More than you know sweetie, more than you know. For a while I was thinking that I was about the oldest one here. I should have known better. So many authors at lit are, well younger than me by a goodly bit it is refreshing to know that there are some who can relate and have memories of youth comparable to mine.

 

[estevie]

I got this in an email from my sis the other day...how true!




HOW DID WE SURVIVE?
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 painted with bright colored lead based paint. We often
chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine
bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. 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 played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We ate
cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never
overweight; we were always outside playing.

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.

That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem
solvers. We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and
we learned how to deal with it all!!!

 

[Velius]

Remember when...

Sodas came in glass bottles, and cost a dime out of the machine? You could pick up enough empties along the road to get one by the time you got to the gas station.

Penny candy usually meant penny candy.

You could take all day in the toy section trying to figure out what to buy with your one dollar bill.

Little kids could play anywhere in the neighborhood, but had to be home at dark. (Now we won't let them out of our sight.)

Saturday morning meant cartoons. Great cartoons, until Soul Train came on. Then it was time to go OUTSIDE and play.


Do you have any remember whens to share? Comments on mine?

I'm not that old. I do remember when the New Kids on the Block were popular (god I hated them, still do) and when the NES came out in the US. I remember watching He Man and going to see the movie. Now I do feel old.

 

[miles]

estevie

Hey hot pants - long time, no see!

 

[estevie]

Re: estevie

Hey hot pants - long time, no see!

Morning sugar!!!

It has been quite the long time...how goes it?

 

[Velius]

Re: Re: estevie

Morning sugar!!!

It has been quite the long time...how goes it?

Weren't you supposed to meet me on a corner!?

 

[curious2c]

Gocarts?

We used a steep rock and grass covered hill and sheets of cardboard cut out from freezer shipping boxes. Standing up in the back of the pickup and letting the wind blow in your face, taking your breath away as you did.

Mom got in touch with us through a short walk and yelling. If we didn't come right away, usually no big deal, we would turn up eventually, tired and breathless from running and racing with a friend.

We could go a rather long distance away from the yard (miles) and even go fishing by ourselves. On good days, gopher hunting with the 22's was fun too.

It seems that now days, you see a kid running you are looking for the problem, what are they running from? A kid with a gun? CALL THE COPS!
What do you mean your kids were not seat-belted in?
Cardboard? No way, you might hurt yourself and then your parents will sue me. get lost kid.

I was fortunate to grow up in a golden age for a kid I guess.

 

[estevie]

Re: Re: Re: estevie

Weren't you supposed to meet me on a corner!?

Someone beat you to me. He thought I was a hooker, offered me $100. I couldn't refuse.

 

[Lost Cause]

Ahhh....

Bob's 19 cent hamburgers, filling up the '54 Ford I bought for $50.00 for five bucks! Going on a date, spending about $7.00 for a good meal, and staying up all night partying, and going to school for the rest of the day without being tired!

*Yup! I AM the guy your parents warned you about!

 

[A Desert Rose]

Yes, we were fortunate. Things were easier, indeed.

 

[Velius]

Re: Re: Re: Re: estevie

Someone beat you to me. He thought I was a hooker, offered me $100. I couldn't refuse.

Ah damn, too late then. I am all accounted for now ;p

 

[Lost Cause]

Toys!

Hula Hoops?

Steel Roller Skates: That you put on your street shoes, and tightened with a key?

Balsa-wood flying glider?

Paper and wood kites?

Silly Putty?

*Mainly, none of them had the need for batteries!

 

[estevie]

Re: Toys!

Steel Roller Skates: That you put on your street shoes, and tightened with a key?

Ohhhh, remember the roller skates that looked like tennis shoes? Hmmm. I must have been 8 or so. I had to have those! I was way cooler than my sis with her plain white ones with the colored pompoms.

 

[curious2c]

Tonka Trucks, the big ones, heavy metal and good reproductions.
Matchbox cars for 25 cents. The origional Slinky, the one that was about three inch's across and made of steel.

Girls in skirts and bobby socks. Saying your first cuss words, you know, damn ~look around, giggle, then repeat~ damn-it!

Holding hands with your 'significant other' then, your gal. (or guy if your still here Rose)

going to the movies at matinee time and siting next to your girlfriend/boyfriend and holding hands, thinking that maybe this time you will kiss. NAH! Next time for sure. (Sex was what adults did, or sometimes college kids, not you for sure)

Learning about sex from, ~OH MY GOD!~ Mom or Dad! (Of course the guys remember 'those magazines' (Playboy, Sears catalog etc...)

How about your first real date that moms and dads both knew about? (Don't mess up your clothes. NO NECKING, nice boys don't do that to good girls)

Geez, how did I ever get through all of that anyway?

 

[sch00lteacher]

That was a great email estevie.

More new stuff to remember for you poor kids.

Those shoes with the red lights in the heel. I remember working in a junior high school, and watching all the kids going down the hall. Blink blink blink.

My son was in love with that Ghostbuster slime. Came in the little cans like play-dough, only it wasn't like play-dough at all.

(Play-dough is a good remember when for us older folks, the smell alone takes me back)

Remember Tinker Toys? Lincoln Logs?

You always had to have a lite-bright, even if it was the stupidest thing in the world. Did anyone ever finish a pattern?

Remember those slide projectors for kids? You got like a mini flashlight with a slot in it. Then you got a bunch of card board strips with panels of a cartoon. Flintstones, what not. We would put on shows, once, maybe twice, then bury the stupid thing at the bottom of our pile.

Marbles. Little glass balls. Remember the hours you could waste playing with them? I wonder if there is a marble game for Playstation...

Fucking tic tac toe. And an older neighborhood kid. Always beating my ass. It took me a long time to discover that you can't lose that game unless you are a moron. I was a moron. I remember the girl who would make me play for hours.

Johnny U. - just left us. Remember him? Think he got paid millions of bucks? He was the best. Kids today don't even know who he was.

Oh shit, what did they call those worthless tablets you used to drop into a glass of water to make 'soda'. They were like Alka Seltzer, and about as tasty. They were more fun to just put in your mouth.

Remember astronaut food sticks? Tang!

 

[Lost Cause]

Cartoons!

No activism, no PC.

Bozo the Clown

Magilla Gorilla

Beanie and Cecil

Woody Woodpecker

Quickdraw McGraw

Space Ghost

Wally Gator


Puppet Programs like;
Fireball XL5
Supercar
Thunderbirds

*Nothing like a jump start to a young-in's imagination!

 

[curious2c]

Tic tac toe reminds me of a girl who was a bit older than me.
She played me and beat me all the time. I knew how to win, just played dumb. One day she suggested 'strip' tic tac toe. OK. She beat the pants of me, in more ways than one. Later of course, I beat her. That led to other learning things of interest that had nothing to do with those kind of games.

I think she was very aware that I knew how to really play the game too. It was fun though.

How about the viewmaster? that stereoscopic thing you looked through and the pictures were three-D when you focused it right.

Chemistry sets that had 'real' chemicals in them?

Walt Disney on Sunday afternoons? Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom? Flipper? Car fifty four where are you?

 

[A Desert Rose]

Holding hands with your 'significant other' then, your gal. (or guy if your still here Rose)

going to the movies at matinee time and siting next to your girlfriend/boyfriend and holding hands, thinking that maybe this time you will kiss. NAH! Next time for sure. (Sex was what adults did, or sometimes college kids, not you for sure)

I am still here. I loved Saturday matinees.... in the balcony, necking..... mmmmm great things to remember. Junior High dances. Sweaty hands. lol

 

[curious2c]

Walking home afterwards, finally getting up the nerve and a light kiss on the cheek, followed by another on the lips. Smiles and 'good night' looking at each other and not wanting to call it a night. Soon the Parent coming to the door to check on things in a quiet or unobtrusive way. LIght on the porch on and the quick goodbye after that.

WOW! How do I remember all this stuff anyway, am I not to have memory problems at this age?

 

[A Desert Rose]

We are not old, hon. This is the BEST time....... ~smiling~

 

[curious2c]

Definitely not old, just very, very expierenced for sure. Matter of fact, remembering this past history makes me feel, well, pretty damn good right now!

 

[Arc da Rat]

Okies I remember alot of the stuff that has been mentioned.

Saturday morning cartoons ended with American Bandstand came on. Soul Train wasn't broadcasted here.

I still have my Tinker Toys & Lite Brite. As well as my glass marbles.

Thunderbird are now out on DVD ... I do remember watching at least one episode.

Beanie and Cecil where one of my fave afterschool cartoons to watch.

 

[Lost Cause]

Fizzies! (Root Beer/Lemon Lime/Orange/Cola)

Goofy Grape?

No minute anything? (rice/oatmeal)

Quisp Cereal?

Surfer shirts, and Beachcomber pants?

Crash Mobile toy cars? (demolition derby)

Joe Palooka punching bags?

Bazooka Bubble Gum in a 5 to a pack, for .15 cents?

Double Edged Changeable Razors? Mix it yourself shaving lather?

Rotary Telephones?

The first $700.00 calculators?

Pong?


*I'm getting dizzy!

 

[Arc da Rat]

My friend had Pong ... I had the Atari 2600!

The original phone in my house was a rotary dial. My grandpa's phone was one of those black heavy metal ones that you would see in shows from the 50's (?)