Close your eyes.... and go back.....

Let's go back
Close your eyes.... and go back.....
Before the Internet or the MAC, Before semi automatics and crack.
Before chronic and indo, before SEGA or Super Nintendo
Way back.......

I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sitting on the porch, Hot bread and butter.
The ice cream man,
Eatin' a 'super dooper sandwich',
Red light, Green light.
Chocolate milk, Lunch tickets,
Penny candy in a brown paper bag. Playin! pin-ball in the comer store.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch
Jacks, kickball dodgeball y'all!
Mother May I?
Hula Hoops and Sunflower Seeds,
Jolly Ranchers, blowpops, Mary Janes,
Grape and Watermelon Now-Laters
(what about "Alexander the grape," "lemonheads")
Running through the sprinkler,
(I can't get wet! All right, well don't wet my hair....)
The smell of the sun and lickn' salty lips....
Wait....

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons,
Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Sky King,
The Three Stooges, and Bugs Bunny.
Catchin! lightening bugs in a jar,
Playin sling shot.
When around the comer seemed far away,
And going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
Bedtime, Climbing trees,
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers,
Cowboys and Indians,
Sittin on the curb,
Jumpin down the steps, Jumpin on the bed.
Pillow fights
Being tickled to death
Runnin till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from playin'.... Remember that?

I ain't finished just yet...
Crowding around in a circle around the 'after, school fight', then 
running when the teacher came.
What about the girl that had the big bubbly hand writing??
Eating Kool-aid powder with sugar.
Didn't that feel good.. just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

When there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyers), and the only time you wore them at school was for "gym"
When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up.
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
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 girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school if then.
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.
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 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 being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to them 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!

Remember when the only way you knew a color TV show was coming on was the peacock would come on, spread out it's tail, and it would say "in living color".
Remember Necco wafers? Nehi grape soda and moon pies?  A water wiggle?  A wheel-o?  Aviator caps with flaps that button down?  A duck tail?

Telephones with no dials.
Party Lines.
Some Doctors didn't have offices, they made only house calls.
Mom cleaning the house for the Doctors visit.
Bungalow Bar Ice Cream Trucks.
Big Irish cop walking his beat.
Walking with Grandpa, and 2 dogs, and 6 ducks, down 160th St.

Kick the Can
Tree forts
Ugly stickers - anyone remember those?
All us kids would stop dead in our tracks when a jet would go over...WOW!!!  LOOK!!!

When you placed the needle onto the record?
A splash of cherry extract in your "soda" at the soda fountain...5 cents.
You put rubber bands on the sole of your shoe cause it came loose and flapped.
Winky Dink
Captain Midnight
Penny candy
Reaching into ice cold water to get an 8oz coke out of the cooler Soda fountains at the drug store (I would really like to sit at an old fountain and order a cherry coke)
Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Walking through a mud puddle barefooted and feeling the mud squish through your toes.
Frog houses
Davy Crockett and coonskin hats
The infamous "snipe hunt"
Dick and Jane
One, two, three…REDLIGHT
Red rover red rover send Janie right over.
Sea Hunt
And the most cherished comedian to ever entertain us...Red Skelton.



There's nothing like the good old days! They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them