Remember When...
I received an e-mail today from my dear friend from high school, Mark who I so enjoy keeping in touch with, since we had way too many "excellent adventures" in our formative years...that really gave me a case of the "sighs"...
Fortunately, it was the GOOD kind of sigh.

You know what those are.
You think of things that used to be and wonder WHY we no longer have them, right?
We wax nostalgic for days that had a lot more meaning...even if we were kids just "goofing around".
We knew what we could do, and what we could NOT do...and we had parents that made sure we KNEW the difference.
Hell, anyone who was older than us (and that damn near everyone) made sure we towed the mark when it came to our behavior.
And when we didn't, we almost felt as though the end of our world was nigh.
Yeah...THOSE kind of days of yesteryear.
(see...you DO remember them)
Okay then, boys and girls, get yourselves ready, because it's time to dust off the WAY-BACK machine, fire it up, and spend a few minutes wondering WHAT HAPPENED to those days.
Sound like a plan?
Well then, go top off that cup or glass of whatever you're enjoying, and allow yourself to think back...
===============================
How's This For Nostalgia?
--All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
--It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?
--Nobody owned a purebred dog?
--When a quarter was a decent allowance?
--You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
--Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
--You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?

Those were called SERVICE stations...employed a LOT of people and were VERY "convenient" as opposed to pump yer own and grab some nachos inside
--Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
--It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?

Today, too many kids don't even KNOW their parents.
--They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed… and they did it!

And THAT system worked!
--When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?
--No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?
--Lying on your back in the grass with your friends...and saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a... '?
--Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?

Or having those same adults pick on someone else's kid or another parent because "it's all about winning".
--Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

Today, you damn near need an engineering degree from M.I.T. to figure out SOME of those lids and caps.
And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today.
--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 greater than the threat.
=============================

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah, I remember that'?
How Many Of These Do You Remember?
--Candy cigarettes

I recall TWO types - hard sugary candy with pink "lit" ends, and chocolate one wrapped in rice paper with gold "filters".
--Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.
--Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles.

They were 8 oz bottles that cost a NICKEL and they were COLD!
--Coffee shops with table-side jukeboxes.

And they used to have ONE type of coffee...HOT!
--Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum.

I also like BEEMANS...they were "adult" chewing gums
--Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers.

And the big block of ice the milkman gave us kids to suck on during those HOT SUMMER DAYS!
Newsreels before the movie.
Telephone numbers with a word prefix...( Yukon 2-601).
Party lines.
Peashooters.

Yes, they ACTUALLY sold "weapons" to kids...in gentler time.
Hi-Fi's & 45 RPM records.
78 RPM records!
Green Stamps.
Mimeograph paper.
The Fort Apache Play Set.

Or the BATTLEGROUND playset, Civil War playset, and the Revolutionary War playset - all made by MARX toys (no relation to Karl the Commie)
=============================
Do You Remember a Time When…
--Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?

Solve a snotload of military issues, don'cha think?
--Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!'?

I think the White House STILL practices this one...lol.
--'Race issue' meant arguing about who RAN THE FASTEST?

Be REAL nice if the NAACP picked up on THIS one!
--Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?

Wow, an alternative to incandescent bulbs...who knew?
--It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best Friends'?
--Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
--Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? --'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense?
--Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?

Today, it's perfectly normal to see a baby-momma doing that while walking down the middle of the street with her toddler nearby.
--The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
--War was a card game?

As well it should be...keep the body count WAY down.

--Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

But ONLY if you had DOUBLES of that Mickey Mantle card...!

--Taking drugs meant orange - flavored chewable aspirin?

And Smith Brothers Cough Drops.
--Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?
If you can remember most or all of these,
...Then You...Have...Lived!!!!!!!

We've come SO far from those days, and yet we've LOST SO MUCH along the way.

We may have technology that can keep us in closer touch with our kids, but they're too busy texting while driving...

We have the Internet and cell phones... to allow us access to one another.

And we abuse it with pornography and online bullying.

We have computer-controlled everything, and we no longer can make as many decisions for OURSELVES...or even WISH TO.
Many would call this PROGRESS.
I call it being lazy.

You call it what you will...just remember what it USED to be like...and then decide.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay safe out there, America.