Happy Thoughts

It's one of the times when I need to unplug from the world. No more newspaper articles, news reports, Internet stories. I've had it! Tornadoes, oil spills, floods, Wall Street corruption, Iraq, increasing unemployment rates, housing crises, etc... No wonder everyone is so fearful, full of anxiety, and angry. I've been thinking a lot of when life was more simple, my childhood.

Do you remember.....

1.) Slipping slides- I remember spending my entire summer in the front yard with the neighborhood kids. We would set up our banana slipping slide and everyone stood in line waiting their turn to take a running start. By the end of the afternoon a huge puddle of grass would build up at the edge of the slide. Who would have thought a $20 piece of plastic would bring such wonderful memories.

2.) Banana seats- I remember banana seats. Oh yeah! Your bike was your main transportation. I think I was the last generation where parents allowed children to ride bikes around the town without supervision. We had total freedom to go where we wanted with our friends but we had to be home by dinner. When the street lamps came on you knew to peddle as fast as you could home.



3.) Roller Skating Rinks- I remember my mom dropping me and my sister off at the roller skating rink on Saturday mornings. It was "the hang out" for the kids under sixteen. I remember I had white roller skates with pink wheels. I finally saved up my allowance for the pink pom pom. Do you remember those? I had my first slow skate dance to Queen's, "Somebody to Love." We held hands.




4.) Station Wagons- Every mom in America drove one. I remember having a huge slumber party for my 8th B-Day. My mom drove all of 12 girls to the beach. Seat belts were considered optional at that time. My goodness! Can you believe doing that now?



5.) Charlie's Angels- This was my favorite show. All my friends and sisters watched Charlie's Angels. I wanted to be Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and my BFF Stacey wanted to be Jill (Farrah Fawcett).




6.) Orange Crush- It was the beverage of choice. It was the best stuff on earth. We use to drink it from the retro glass bottles. We would save the bottle caps or kick them around on the sidewalks.



7.) Bazooka gum- Chewed it, love it. It was probably terrible for my teeth. I would try to chew as many pieces I could to blow huge gum bubbles. Anyone else do this?


8.) Comic books- The neighborhood kids all read Archie comics. My friend and I would trade Betty and Veronica's. We would sit by the pool for hours reading them during the summer.



9.) Tire swing- My dad made my sister and I a tire swing. Endless fun after school. I would push off from the tree and lean back looking at the sky. It felt as if I was flying through the air. We would talk about school friends, boys, and girl stuff for hours.



These are a few memories that make me smile. During all the horrible things going on in the world today it is good to sometimes reflect on the memories of the past. Funny, we had less but were much happier than we are today.

HAVE A BOOGIE WOOGIE WEEKEND!