TAKE A STROLL


 If you are old enough . . . take a stroll with me . . . close your eyes
 and go back . . . before the Internet . . . before semiautomatics and crack
 before SEGA or Super Nintendo . Going out to eat and shopping?  way back . . .

 I'm talking about hide and go seek at dusk. Sitting on the porch, Simon
 Says, Kick the Can, Red light - Green light. Lunch boxes with a
 thermos... chocolate milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the store,
 hopscotch, butterscotch, skates with keys, single speed bikes, cards on your
 spokes for a motor, Jacks, Mother May I?

 Hula Hoops and sunflower seeds, Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights, wax
 lips and mustaches, Mary Janes, turning in bottles for candy money,
 saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom, running
 through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey Mouse Club, Rocky
 & Bullwinkle, 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 . . . backyard shows,
 lemonade stands, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, sitting' on the
 curb, staring at clouds, jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed,
 pillow fights, getting "company," ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas
 tree, Jackie Gleason, white gloves, walking to church, walking to the movie
 theater, being tickled to death, running till you were out of breath,
 laughing so hard that your stomach hurt, being tired from playing'
 . ...Remember that?

 Not stepping' on a crack or you'll break your mother's back . . . paper
 chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington. . the smell
 of paste in school and Evening in Paris.  What about the girl that had the
 big bubbly handwriting, who dotted her "i's" with hearts? The Stroll,
 popcorn balls, & sock hops. Remember 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? Taking the
 school bus everywhere.

 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 nobody owned a
 purebred dog. 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 your
 Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces. When all of your male teachers wore
 neckties and female teachers had their hair done, everyday and wore high heels?
 When you pressed and kneaded the color button into the margarine to give it
 color.

 When 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!  When everyone had a fixer upper car and was
 proud of it.  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, and people went steady and girls wore a
 class ring with an inch of wrapped dental floss or yarn 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, since no one ever
 had a key.

 Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying
 things like "That cloud looks like a . . . " And playing baseball with no
 adults to help kids with the rules of the game. Back then; baseball was not a
 psychological group learning experience-it was a game.

 Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic
 seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.  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 . . .

 So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy
 Boys, 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, and summers
 filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and
 visits to the pool . . .  and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.

 When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the
 fate that awaited a misbehaving 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 all
 survived because their love was greater than the threat.

 Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember
 that!!!!!! >>