Remember when

REMEMBER WHEN...

 It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?

A quarter was a decent allowance?

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

Your mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked and gas pumped without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And you got trading stamps to boot?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels packed inside the box?

It was considered a rare privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant by your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed? And they did it?

When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car, whether to cruise or peel out or lay rubber or watch submarine races? And people "went steady"?

No one ever asked where the car keys were, because they were always in the car's in ignition, and the doors were rarely locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and muttering stuff like, 'That cloud looks like a...'?

Playing baseball with no adults to take charge with the rules of the game?

  

Being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you for it at home?

Ingestible stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

Summers filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops, visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar?

And with all society's "progress," don't you just wish just once in a while that you could slip back in time, savor the slower pace, and share it with today's clueless kids?

Sure, we were in fear for our lives back then, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat. But we survived because their love was greater than their disciplinary tactics.

Now, didn't it feel good here just to go back and say, 'Hey, yeah, I remember that'?

I'm sharing this with you today because I got a "double dog dare" to pass it on. To understand what a "double dog dare" is, ask an elder. And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between too young to care and old enough to know better.

Send this on to someone who can still remember Howdy Doody, the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, "The Shadow Knows, "Nellie Belle, Roy, Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.

Candy cigarettes

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes, Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum.

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers.

Newsreels before the movie.

Telephone numbers with a word prefix (e.g., Yukon 2-601). And party lines.

Peashooters.

Hi-Fi's & 45 RPMs.

78 RPMs!

Green Stamps.

Mimeograph paper.

The Fort Apache play set.

And do you recall those days when decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?  When mistakes were corrected just by yelling, 'Do-Over!'? When 'race issues' meant arguing about who could run the fastest?

When catching fireflies could happily occupy most of an evening?

When it wasn't odd to have two or three 'best friends'?

When having a weapon in school meant getting caught with a slingshot?

When saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?

When 'Oly-oly-ox'n-free' made perfect sense?

When spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was a neat inspiration for giggles?

When the worst embarrassment in the world was being picked last for a team?

When war was a card game?

When baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

When taking drugs referred to orange-flavored, chewable aspirin?

When water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these, THEN BE THANKFUL FOR HAVING LIVED A WORTHWHILE LIFE!