I did a re-write of an old piece of work that is meant to prompt you to simply remember. I used portions of it the Memorial Day Sunday and the smiles it evoked were worth it. When you get to the end, I wonder what you'll be remembering from days gone by that I didn't mention but we're memorable for you.
I want you to simply remember. As we used to tell our kids, remembering is going backwards in your mind. So go back ... back before the Internet or Microsoft, before Ipods or Ipads, before cell phones or blackberries, before Playstation or Nintendo or Xbox, before WiTV and SUV and DVR. Way back...
I'm talking about long, long ago. All the way back to hide and go seek at dusk. To Red light, Green light. To hopscotch and double dutch and the playground sounds of girls rhyming out word while skipping. To jacks and marbles, to kickball and dodge ball. To Giant Step, and May I? and Red Rover and Hula Hoops. To Scooters and Schwinn Bicycles. Are you there yet?
Back to the taste of salty lips from eating too many sunflower seeds. Back to smarties and penny candy, to Jolly Ranchers and Wacky Taffy, to Red Wax Lips and orange popcicles you had to split down the middle with your sister. Back to the Good Humor man. Back to the milk man and the bread man, to the fuller brush man and the Avon lady all coming to your door.
Back to running through the sprinkler, sitting on the curb, jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed. Reading comic books by flashlight. Transistor radios tuned to a world series game being played in the middle of the day. Pillow fights, sleeping in a tent in the yard counting stars, playing in the rain. Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Being tired from simply playing all day. Remember that?
Back before Cheers was only a re-run, before bicycle shorts and bicycle helmets, before seat belts and sun block and hand sanitizers. Way back. Back to watching Saturday Morning cartoons, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Fat Albert and Road Runner, He-Man and Superman,. Rainy Saturday afternoons with the Three Stooges or Abbot and Costello or Art Linkletter.
Then weeknights of the Honeymooners, then Jack Paar then Johnny Carson.
Catching frogs in a creek or lightening bugs in a jar. Collecting bubble gum cards and actually chewing the gum. Playing with a sling shot or playing with your first Barbie Doll. Owning a red rider bb gun or your first cabbage patch doll. The smell of a ball glove and the relief of not being the last one picked. Climbing trees and big family picnics. Back when it was ok to play Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians. Back when danger was a sharp pointy stick or a mean dog.
Back to when a large square drawn in the dirt was considered a fort with walls and you could not get in. Back when a big cardboard box was a days worth of fun. When a towel tied around your neck gave you the ability to fly. When you pretended to be invisible and began to think it might be working when your parents pretended not to see you. When blankets spread over the dining room table and chairs kept the monsters out.
Back when grandparents were really, really old people. When around the corner seemed far away and going downtown seemed like really going somewhere. Real terror was getting lost and real relief was being found.
Back to when it seemed everybody went to church and nothing much was open on Sundays. When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you had one. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there. When nobody owned a purebred dog. When popcorn popped in a pan on the stove with oil, not in a bag in the microwave. When laundry detergent boxes had free glasses, dishes, or towels hidden inside the box.
Back to when your mom wore nylons that came in two pieces and all phones hung on a wall in the kitchen. When all of the male teachers at school wore neckties and the female teachers had their hair done, everyday. When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. And, you didn't pay for air for your tires. And, you got trading stamps to boot!
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him, or make him to carry groceries into the house, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it. When it was considered a rare and great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. And when milk went up two cents a quart and everyone talked about it for weeks.
Back to when they threatened to keep kids back a grade in school if they failed...and then did it. When being sent to the principal's office felt like a death sentence and still that was nothing compared to what was gonna happen when you got home.
Back to sitting on the porch, back to hot homemade bread and butter. Back to an ice cream cone on a warm summer night. Three choices: chocolate or vanilla or strawberry. A million mosquito bites it seemed and sticky faces and fingers. And the dreaded moment when your mom would lick a Kleenex and then wipe your face with it.
Back to when summer seemed endless and you just hated having to come in at night. Back
to memories so rich with life you might wonder where all that life has gone. But boy oh boy, those were some days.
Now…didn't that feel good just to spend time remembering?! They were good experiences then, and they're good memories now … when we remember to think about them. And that’s the problem: we forget to remember.
...just thinkling
