Re: The Feel Good Years

Thanks for the stroll down Memory Lane, Mare.
Born in 1958, here are some of the summer pleasures I remember:

- Riding bikes with a baseball card clothes-pinned to the frame so it would
flap in the spokes, making a sound which we were sure was comparable to a
Harley.

- Waiting for the ice cream truck, which would arrive sometime around 7:00
pm. And getting a Strawberry Shortcake ice cream bar and change back from
your quarter.

- Popsicles had two sticks in them

- Playing outside all day long, only coming in when you were called for
supper. Parents never wondered where we were, we never felt scared or in
danger, and we rarely checked in during the day. And we lived to tell about
it.

- Each household had their own method for rounding up their kids for supper.
One guy two houses away had an ear-splitting whistle (mouth, not mechanical)
that I swear could be heard over in the next neighborhood. He'd just stand
on the back porch, let 'er rip, and his kids would come running. The other
neighbor would just yell "Kathy!" out the front door. Yet another one would
yell "Hey! Dinner!" and their kids would show up.

- Mom would freeze Kool-Aid in ice cube trays (no sticks), and we thought
this was a really luxurious summer treat, eating the Kool-Aid cube straight
from our hand.

- Going to the woods. "The woods" was such a vast, mysterious place, and we
were sure it stretched on for many uncharted miles. There were some bike
trails that previous generations of kids had worn through, but for the most
part the woods were unspoiled, cool and mysterious and held all sorts of
possibilities. Years later, "the woods" were razed for a housing
development, and it turns out the entire area was probably only about 10-15
acres, tops. But to us kids, it was the Amazon jungle.

- playing Kick the Can as soon as it got dark enough for the street light to
come on

- no air conditioning, so we'd sleep with the windows open and the front
door open so air came through the screened storm door. No lock on the storm
door, though. Didn't need it then.

- finding "hop toads" in the back yard. They were rather common when I was
growing up. Now, I don't think I've seen one around here in 30 years.

- riding our bikes over to the "crick" past the NEW Seven-Eleven store to
catch tadpoles. And speaking of Seven-Eleven -- what a concept! A store
that was actually open from 7am-11pm. Wow!

- stores were closed on Sundays. Every store. Except maybe the local
pharmacy, which was open on Sunday mornings for a few hours.

- going to the corner store and getting a cherry Coke at the counter and
drinking it through a paper straw. The guy who owned the store didn't
particularly care for kids, so sometimes we'd just get a 15 cent bottle of
Coke (7 oz. returnable) and a 10 cent bag of potato chips and sit out on the
storm cellar doors on the side of the store.

- Bazooka gum for a penny a piece. Five cents and you were chewing all day.

- Swimming in the backyard pool for hours on end

- Playing board games on the front porch. It was usually Sorry! or Life or
Monopoly. We went through a phase of playing Jacks for a few weeks, and one
summer someone's older brother taught us how to play chess, so that was the
fad for a couple of summers

- as long as it wasn't supposed to rain, we'd keep the windows open, even if
the family was going out for a few hours. And we never locked the doors.

- either going barefoot or wearing flip-flops, all summer long. The only
time you'd put on real shoes was for church, or sneakers if you were going
to play tag or baseball. Bike riding was usually done barefoot.

- water balloon fights with kids from the other end of the neighborhood.

- playing baseball in the street with one of those pink rubber balls. First
base was the sewer, second base was the manhole cover, third base was the
curb edge by the driveway, and home plate was the other manhole cover.
Hitting the roof of a certain house was an automatic home run. If the ball
hit an overhead electrical wire, someone yelled "Interference!" and there'd
be a do-over.

- rarely did we watch tv or even listen to the radio during the day. We
were too busy playing outside.

- the streets were just mobbed with kids -- playing, riding bikes, running
around, whatever. The neighborhood is still mobbed with kids, only you
rarely see them because they're in the house on the computer, playing video
games, or being shuttled to one camp or another by parents who feel that one
idle hour is a sign of underachievement and a surefire road to mediocrity.

- the worst night of the summer was Labor Day. Because that was the last
night you could stay up late. Tuesday was spent with a slight uneasiness in
the pit of your stomach, feeling the end closing in on you. And Wednesday,
it was back to school.

Well, I could go on and on. But you all know the deal. And it certainly
seemed a hell of a lot simpler in those days. And so much fun.

Jayne






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