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.
Sittin' on the porch, Hot bread and butter.
Eatin' a 'super dooper sandwich', Red light, Green light.

Chocolate milk, Lunch tickets, Penny candy in a brown paper bag.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, double-dutch, Jacks, kickball, dodge-ball, y'all!
Mother, May I?
Hula Hoops and Sunflower Seeds, Jaw breakers, blowpops, Mary Janes,
Running through the sprinkler (I can't get wet! All right, well don't wet my hair....)
The smell of the sun and lickin' salty lips....

Wait......
Catchin' lightening bugs in a jar, playin' sling shot and Red Rover.
When around the corner 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...
What about the girl that had the big bubbly hand writing??
Licking the beaters when your mother made a cake.
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say,
Yeah, I remember that!

There's nothing like the good old days! They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them. Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate.

One can't be serious ALL the time, eh?
Remember when...

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 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 the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
Shooting marbles out of a circle drawn in the dirt! You actually got to keep them when you did!
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Disapproval from our parents and grandparents was a much bigger threat!
Thank God I can still remember!!

I want to go to McDonald's and think it's the best place in the world to eat.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make waves with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money 'cause you can eat them.

I want to play kickball during recess and stay up on Christmas Eve waiting to hear Santa and Rudolph on the roof.

I long for the days when life was simple. When all you knew were your colors, the addition tables, and simple nursery rhymes, but it didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know, and you didn't care.

I want to go to school and have snack time, recess, gym, and field trips.

I want to be happy because I don't know what should make me upset.

I want to think the world is fair, and everyone in it is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. Sometime, while I was maturing, I learned too much. I learned of nuclear weapons, starving and abused kids, and unhappy marriages.

I want to think that everyone, including myself, will live forever because I don't know the concept of death.

I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life, and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want television to be something I watch for fun, not something I use for escape from the things I should be doing.

I want to live knowing the little things I find exciting will always make me as happy as when I first learned them.

I remember not seeing the world as a whole, but rather being aware of only the things that directly concerned me.

I want to be naive enough to think that if I'm happy, so is everyone else.

I want to walk down the beach and think only of the sand beneath my feet, and the possibility of finding that blue piece of sea glass I'm looking for.

I want to spend my afternoons climbing trees and riding my bike, letting the grownups worry about time, the dentist, and how to find the money to fix the car.

I want to wonder what I'll do when I grow up, not worry what I'll do if this doesn't work out.

I want that time back. I want to use it now as an escape. So that when my computer crashes, I have a mountain of paperwork, two depressed friends, or second thoughts about so many things, I can travel back and build a snowman without thinking about anything except whether the snow sticks together. What I can possibly use for the snowman's mouth?