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..... to 1963 and before . . . .
I'm talkin' bout hide and seek at dusk
Red light, Green light
Red Rover....Red Rover.....
Playing kickball & dodgeball until the first...no...second...no...third
streetlight came on
Ring around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot potato
Hop Scotch
Jacks
Pick-up sticks
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 prizes in the bottom
Cracker jacks with the same thing
Popsicles with 2 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, Three Stooges)
Wonder Woman & Super Man Underoos
FONZIE.....AYYYYYYYY
Rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand
Playing Dukes of Hazard
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning
Your first day of school
Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses
Climbing trees
Cruising Capital Avenue, Euclid and Main Street
Making U-turns at the end of the "loop" was legal
Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky
Getting an ice cream at Corner Drug
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin' down the steps
Jumpin' on the bed
Pillow fights
Sleep-overs
Congregating at the A&W
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 the dishes
The Sioux Drive-In
Hiding in the trunk to get into the drive-In free
Your first crush
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth CLOSED
and your eyes OPEN)
Mom or Dad flicking the porch light on and off to let
you know it was time to come in
Homecoming snake dances and bonfires
Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up " "7UP" 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
Listening to KOMA after sundown
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 Corral and you were COOL
When being sent to Mr. Neiles' 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.
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!!
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.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "monopoly"
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old, referred to anyone over 20. (CRAP! I'm officially old!)
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 carnival
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.
Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your fiercest protector
If you can remember most or all of these, then you're definitely a
member of the Class of '63 and have LIVED!!!