I REMEMBER...
Riding on the tractor with my dad in the fields...
Catching tadpoles, and checking each day until they turned into frogs.
Sailing high on the lap of a gunny sack swing...
Watching The Carol Burnett Show on Saturday nights.
Straddling the coolness of our propane tank, pretending it was a horse.
Birthdays of grade school friends I haven't seen in years...
The smell of cool, wet carbon copies...fresh off the machine in the days before Xerox.
When AIDS was dietary chocolate squares, intended to help one lose weight.
The wooden marble game in the children's waiting room at the doctor's office.
My mom and dad, waltzing during The Lawrence Welk Show.
When we had to get up to change the TV channel....and when there were only 3 stations.
Saying "Dibs" to reserve our favorite chair...
How I prayed all summer not to get Mrs. Shirley for 4th grade...and I got her anyway.
The wonderful display of sparkling rings to choose from at the dentist office.
Paying 25 cents a gallon for gasoline up at the county line...
Walking a mile to I - 135 before it opened for traffic...and riding my bike down it with my mother.
When those rubbery shoes known as "flip flops" were called "thongs".
Record players, the Hi-Fi and reel to reel tapes...
How I hated tacos the first time I ate them...yet how I love them now.
Sitting on top of the ice cream bucket to hold it still while my dad turned the crank.
Party lines and rotary phones...
My mother's beautiful, black-lacquered music box.
Richard Chamberlain and Ricky Nelson LP's.
Making forts in the currant bushes in the ditch across the road from our house.
Our bus driver making one ornery boy ride on the steps halfway home from school.
When we could get six ice cream cones at Dairy Queen for a total of 30 cents.
Colorful, knitted ponchos and purple jeans.
Davy Jones and the Monkees.
Wearing dresses every day to school.
The Wonderful World of Disney at 6:00 on Sunday evenings.
Cross-country tennis shoes - the black ones with white stripes.
Fizzies - little flavored tablets you put in water to make it taste (supposedly) like soda pop.
Roller skates with keys...that never seemed to stay on.
Bobby Sherman records made of cardboard on the back of a Raisin Bran box.
Making little dolls from the flowers of old-fashioned HollyHocks.
The BIG snowstorm in the early 70's...walking beside the clothesline on top of the drifts, and getting out of school for a week.
Riding in the back of the grain truck with the grasshoppers.
Playing Barbie's with my sister in the low window of our bedroom on the farm.
Colored cups made of tin - one for each member of the family (mine was dark blue).
Seeing a bright star in the east early one Christmas morning.
My little brother and I sliding across the kitchen floor in our socks.
Making Calico and Numpy books, Julie and I, after our two favorite cats.
Throwing up in kindergarten..and hating that last "airy" taste at the bottom of the milk carton.
Playing in the sprinkler on a hot August afternoon.
Rabbit ears for "great" reception...
When gas stations were called "filling stations"...and they were full service.
Popcorn and no-bake cookies on Sunday nights.
That horrible sounding bell they aired on television during a tornado warning...and my brothers making fun of me because I was terrified of storms.
Showing new puppies to Henry, our rural mailman, when he delivered our mail.
The wonderful tree house my cousin, Joe, built one glorious summer...
The fat tummy chair and the big corner cupboard.
The porch swing under the big elm tree and my mother's beautiful flower garden.
Matching dresses my sister and I wore, especially the one with fuzzy cherry material, a white pleated skirt, and a big red sash.
Sibyl Carey, my mother's dear friend who lived up the road....an artist and poet....my first inspiration.
The wonderful farm where countless memories were made and a family of eight lived, laughed and loved.
We were the richest kids I knew.
12 comments:
Good morning, Lori. Just wanted to say hello and tell you I hope you have a wonderful day!! I'm getting ready to go to Charlotte with my Mandy for the Miss Charlotte Teen USA Pageant today. It's a prelim to Miss NC Teen USA. Mandy was in that last year and finished as a Semi-finalist. Wish her luck and say a prayer! It's so much fun, whatever you might think of pageantry. She enjoys it and its a great self-esteem booster for her. It's a great Mom-daughter thing for us to do together too. She's such a jock, usually in basketball gear.....anyway...Keep visiting! Enjoy your blog so much! Take care and God bless! Charlotte
25c a gallon for gas? My memory goes back to 33c. It is amazing to think how much the world has changed though. I remember running around all day long at the age of 8 or 9 with no one knowing where I was at.
I hadn't thought about Fizzies in so long. Loved those things. Don't know why, just a kid thing.
Thanks for your kind words, gleyes...always great to hear from you! Nikki and sisters....always thinking of your Sarah.
Karlo...I must be older than you! And I'm sure it didn't stay 25 cents for long, but I do remember that. I got sent out to the car a lot as a youngster, when I was being a "brat"...back then that was safe.
srp...hardly anyone remembers what Fizzies were. Glad to know I have a kindred spirit of memory out there!
I'm so glad you shared your memories with us...I've missed you.
Wow....Fizzies...wanna have a "happy fizzies party" with me? I remember! I remember all of these things and gas did stay 25 cents/gallon for quite some time! Ahhh, things were sure much simpler then, huh? Hugs!
I love these memories! I share some of them, just because of the time period. Going back to Oregon for vacation made me nostalgic, as did your post. Thanks for the good memories!
This was wonderful to re-read. Some would say that we make our memories of childhood as we wish they would be rather than how they were in reality. I think we see them through our child eyes, but that doesn't make those memories any less wonderful. I do feel for those who have none of these to hold on to when the storms come; the children who have no love to learn from.
As I play catch-up from our vacation, you just became the bright spot in my day!
Thank you, and happy to see a couple of new posts from you! I miss you so much!
alan
Hi Lori, great post....as I was reading I was thinking about when I was growing up on a farm in the country. We had a lot of the same experiences - including playing with Barbies.
You didn't mention one though that I want to share:
- Roller Skating in the same open air rink where your parents met when they were teenagers.
Thanks Lori for these delightful memories you've shared, stimulating me to recall my own wonderful childhood! Bless you!
I used to have a bagswing too! Countless hours gliding over the hedge. How about waiting for the ice to thaw on the river and putting in the dock. Who can forget box forts and cardboard "sleds" down a grassy hill! The first Beatles album, and of course Fizzies that brought me to your blog. Remember sodabursts? Icecream, chocolate and a carbonation disc like a fizzie. Put it in a glass of water and you had a soda. The best days of our lives and we did not know it!!!!
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