Kruz
New Member
I can remember a great deal of these...... far to many 
Hey gang, This brought back great memories for me-
hope ya enjoy STROLL WITH ME Stroll with me.... close your eyes.... and go
back... before the Internet...
before bombings, AIDS, and herpes... before cellphones 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,
Peanuts in a Coke,
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 every-one's Mom was at home when the kids arrived home from
school. When nobody owned a pure-bred 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 every-one'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? So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The
Hardy Boys, Laure! l 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......."
