Go Back in Time

Close Your Eyes...And Go Back in Time

Before the internet or the MAC, before semi-automatics and crack, before SEGA or Super Nintendo....

Way back... I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk, the Good Humor man, red light, green light. The corner store. Hopscotch, butterscotch, double dutch, jacks, kickball, dodgeball, Mother May I, Red Rover and Roly Poly Hula Hoops, running through the sprinkler...

The smell of the sun and licking salty lips. Wax lips and mustaches, an ice cream cone on a warm summer night. A cherry coke from the fountain at the corner drug store. Watching Saturday Morning cartoons, short commercials, Fat Albert, Road Runner, He Man, The Three Stooges, and Bugs, or staying up for Gunsmoke or back further listening to Superman on the radio. 

When around the corner seemed far away and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. A million mosquito bites, sticky finger, cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, Zorro, climbing trees, building igloos out of snow banks, walking to school, no matter the weather. 

Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights, spinning around getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles. Being tired from playing...Remember That? 

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. War was a card game. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon, baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. 

I'm not finished yet... Eating Kool-aid powder...Remember when there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds and PF Flyers)? And the only time you wore them at school, was for gym. It wasn't odd to have two or three best friends. When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a miracle. 

When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped without asking ... for free, every time. And your didn't pay for air and you got trading stamps, too! When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box...

Decisions were made by going "Eeni-meenie-minie-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. 

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a slingshot. Taking drugs meant orange flavored chewable aspirin. Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare". Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors. 

Didn't that feel good...just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!

Thanks Karen, for passing this on to me. It is a fitting introduction to the chapters in my life. And ... Yes, I remember all of it.

Grandpa Don