The good old days

[Guest guest]

Close your eyes...And go back in time > > > > Before semi automatics and crack... > > > > Before SEGA or Super Nintendo... > > > > > > Way back...I'm talking about > > > > Hide and seek at dusk. > > > > Red light, green light. > > > > The corner store. > > > > Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, > > jacks, kickball, dodgeball. > > > > Mother May I... > > > > Red Rover and Roly Poly. > > > > Hula Hoops. > > > > Running through the sprinkler. > > > > An ice cream cone on a warm summer night... > > Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or > > maybe butter pecan. > > > > > > Wait... > > > > Watching Saturday Morning cartoons... > > > > Short commercials. > > > > Fat Albert, Road Runner, The Three Stooges, and Bugs. > > > > Or back further... > > > > > > When around the corner seemed far away, > > > > And going downtown seemed like going somewhere. > > > > Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Zorro. > > > > Climbing trees, building igloos out of snow banks > > > > Running till you were out of breath. > > > > Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. > > > > Jumping on the bed. > > > > Pillow fights. > > > > Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down... > > > > Being tired from playing...Remember that? > > > > The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. > > > > War was a card game. > > > > Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. > > > > Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike > > into a motorcycle. > > > > > > I'm not finished just yet... > > > > When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. > > > > When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, > > and gas pumped without asking, for free, every time... > > and, you didn't pay for air. > > > > When nearly everyone's mom was at home > > when the kids got there. > > > > When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, > > if you even had one. > > > > It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb. > > > > When it was considered a great privilege to be taken > > out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. > > > > When girls neither dated nor kissed > > until late high school, if then. > > > > > > 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. > > > > 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! > > > > Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, > > > > "Yeah, I remember that!" > > > > > > Remember when... > > > > Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo." > > > > Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do over!" > > > > "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest. > > > > The worst thing you could catch > > from the opposite sex was cooties. > > > > It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event. > > > > Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. > > > > Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. > > > > Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin. > > > > Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." > > > > If you can remember most or all of these, > > then you have LIVED!!! > > > > > > Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from "grown up" > > life... > > I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!