Normally I don’t like to use other people’s thoughts but the other day a group of us were setting around talking about when we were kids.

One of them sent me an email that had a bunch of stuff listed that was my childhood. I thought for sure there were others out there who would enjoy this as much as I did. Set back and relax and let your mind go back in time. Yes I like the old cars, there is nothing like them but it’s not just the old cars that make those days special, read on and remember and enjoy.

Go back in time, before the internet or PC or MAC. Before semi automatics and crack, before Play Station, SEGA, Super Nintendo and even before Atari, Before Cell Phones, CD’s and DVD’s, voice mail and e-mail. It was a time of Ring around the Rosie and London Bridge. Hot Potato, Hop Scotch, Jump Rope, and You’re it.

Back when Parents stood on the front porch and yelled or whistled for you to come home, no pagers or cell phones. Take one Giant Step. May I? Remember those endless summer days and nights with no air conditioning and the window’s open, the sound of crickets.

Running through the lawn sprinkler, Cereal boxes with a great prize in the bottom, cracker jacks with the same thing. Popsicle’s with two sticks that you could break in half and share with a friend,

Watching Saturday morning cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Captain Midnight, Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Boston Blackie. Catching lightning bugs in a jar, Christmas morning and your first day of school. Bedtime prayers, Goodnight Kisses, climbing trees, swinging as high as you could in long swings trying to reach the sky. Getting a million mosquito bites and sticky fingers, jumping down the steps.

Jumping on the bed, Pillow fights, running home from a western movie you just saw until you were out of breath, laughing so hard your stomach hurt. Being tired from playing outside all day. WORK meant taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, washing the family car and doing the dishes. Then there is your first crush. Your very first kiss, you know the one that you kept your mouth closed and your eyes open. Rainy days at school with the smell of damp concrete and chalk erasers.

Kool Aid was the drink of the summer. So was a drink from the hose. Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars of your bike. Attaching pieces of cardboard to your bike to rub against the spokes to give you  that motorcycle sound. Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school. Class field trips with soggy sandwiches. Back when most Moms were at home when the kids got home from school. When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance and two quarters made you rich.

Back when any parent could discipline a kid, any kid, or feed him or use him to carry you’re the groceries, and nobody, not even us kids thought anything about it. When parents took us out to eat and it was a real treat. Back when being sent to the Principals office was nothing compared to the fate that was waiting for you when you got home. Basically we were in fear of our lives but it wasn’t because of shooting, gangs, drugs or drive by shootings. We just did not want our parents mad at us.

Don’t that feel good, just to go back and say, ”Yea I remember that”.  Let’s stay back in time when decisions were made by going eeny-meeny-miney-mo. Mistakes corrected by simply yelling out “do over”! Race issues meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Catching those lightning bugs could keep you happy for the whole evening. It wasn’t odd to have two or three best friends. The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom. Scrapes and bruises were kissed by Mom to make them all better. Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true. Abilities were discovered because of a double dog dare. Spinning around and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. If you can remember most of these then you have lived in a more pleasant simpler time. I wonder how many people really enjoyed this as much as I did. Some I know are my vintage. For those of you who remember will have lived in a era that no one else will ever experience. The years passed and slowly those of us who lived it are passing also.

If you don’t remember ask your parents. We went from AM radio to the stars. Your era is here now, be part of it. Make it worth while for future generations to build on and keep God in your lives. That’s it for now, “See You Later Alligator” Keep Cruisin’.