If you are old enough ...take the stroll...
Close your eyes ... And go back ...
Before the Internet or the MAC...
Before semi-automatics and crack...
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo.....
Way back............

I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk,
-- Sittin' on the porch,
-- Simon Says,
-- Kick the Can,
-- Red light, Green light,
-- Chocolate milk,
-- Going home for lunch,
-- Penny candy from the store,
-- Hopscotch,
-- Butterscotch,
-- Skates with keys,
-- Jacks,

-- Mother May I?
-- Hula Hoops and Sunflower seeds,
-- Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights,
-- Wax lips and mustaches,
-- Mary Janes,
-- Saddle shoes,
-- Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom,
-- Running through the sprinkler,
-- Running behind the DDT truck,
-- Sittin' on the curb,
-- Staring at clouds,
-- Circle pins,
-- Bobby pins,
-- Mickey Mouse Club, Crusader Rabbit, Rocky &
Bullwinkle, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty
...all in black & white.




-- When around the corner seemed far away,
-- and going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
-- Bedtime,
-- Climbing trees,
-- Making forts,
-- A Coaster made from orange crates and an old skate,
-- Backyard Shows,
-- Lemonade stands,
-- Cops and Robbers,
-- Cowboys and Indians,
-- Jumpin' down the steps,
-- Jumping on the bed,
-- Pillow fights,
-- "Company",
-- Ribbon candy,
-- Angel hair on the Christmas tree,
-- Running from the guards at Halloween,
-- Jackie Gleason as "the poor soul",
-- White gloves,
-- Walking to church,


-- Walking to the Community Center,
-- Being tickled to death,
-- Running till you were out of breath,
-- Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt,
-- Being tired from playin' . . . Remember that?
-- Not steppin' on a crack . . . or you'll break your
mother's back,
-- Paper chains at Christmas,
-- Silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington,
-- The smell of paste,
-- Buck bags and Evening in Paris,
-- Crowding around in a circle for the 'after-school fight',
then running when the teacher came.
-- What about the girl that had the big bubbly
handwriting. . . who dotted her "i's" with hearts??
-- The Stroll,
-- Popcorn balls, & sock hops,
-- Lunch Boxes with a Thermos (that broke).

-- When there were two types of sneakers for girls and
boys (Keds & PF Flyer) and the only time you wore
them at school was for "gym". . .And the girls had
those ugly uniforms.
-- When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up,
-- When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the
kids got home from school,
-- When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another
quarter a huge bonus,
-- When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny,
-- When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high
school, if then,
-- When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces
(or when you did!),
-- When all of your male teachers wore neckties and
female teachers had their hair done everyday and
wore high heels,
-- When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked,
and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. .
and,you didn't pay for air. . .and, you got trading
stamps to boot!
-- When nobody owned a pure bred dog (except Bohart),




-- When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or
towels hidden inside the box,
-- 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 it was considered a great privilege to be taken
out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents,
-- When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if
they failed . . . and did!
-- When the worst thing you could do at school was
smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum,
-- And the prom was in the auditorium and we danced to
an orchestra, and all the girls wore pastel gowns and
the boys wore suits for the first time and we stayed
out all night,
-- When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car . . .
to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine
races,




-- When people went steady and girls wore a class ring
with an inch of wrapped dental floss coated with
pastel frost nail polish so it would fit her finger,
-- And no one ever asked where the car keys were
'cause they were always in the car, in the ignition
and the doors were never locked,
-- And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked
the doors at home. No one ever had a key.
-- And lying on your back on the grass with your friends
and saying things like "That cloud looks like a.....
-- When stuff from the store came without safety caps
and hermetic seals 'cause no one had yet tried to
poison a perfect stranger,
-- And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with
the rules of the game. Then....baseball was not a
psychological group learning experience, it was a
game.

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 the 80's and 90's ...

So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows..., Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk...
-- as well as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday
morning,
-- Playing in Cowboy land,
-- Baseball games,
-- Bowling and visits to the pool,
-- And eating Kool-aid powder with sugar,
-- And summers filled with bike rides,




-- When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving
student at home.

Copyright Family Guardian Fellowship