Think ya'll will enjoy this...
Black and White TV
(Under age 45? You won't understand.)
You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
'Good Night, David.
Good Night, Chet.'
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same
cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food
poisoning.
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat
it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a
brown paper bag, not
in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting E.coli.
in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting E.coli.
Almost all of us would
Have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool
(talk about boring), no beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell,
and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair
of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic
shoes with air cushion
soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.
soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.
Flunking gym was not an option... Even for stupid kids! I guess PE
must be much harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national
anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative
attention.
We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health
system we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something
before I was
allowed to be proud of myself.
I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play
Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.
Oh yeah... And where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I
got that bee sting?
I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant
construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of
Mercurochrome (kids
liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose
of a $99 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the
contractor for leaving
a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either; because if we did
we got our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we
got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his
tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off.
Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.
Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a jerk.
It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that
they were from a dysfunctional family.
How could we possibly have known that?
We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.
We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we
didn't even
notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA;
AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T,
SORRY FOR WHAT YOU
MISSED.
I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!
Remember that life's most simple pleasures are very often the
best.
I remember just about all of these...life was much simpler...hope all is going well with you...hugs abby
ReplyDeleteLoL Cat, oh yes, this brings back lots of memories. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
"Those were the days, my Friend!":) Loved this, Cuz! Now everything becomes a big deal. I especially liked the "I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself." Ummm Yeah!
ReplyDeleteHope that you are feeling better, and better with each passing day! Have a great rest of the weekend. Many hugs,
<3 Cuz Kt
Good god, Cat, this was just a great post. Yep, that was me, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved playing on construction sites! We would swing on the rebar after the basement concrete was poured. Parents could have cared less as long as we were home by dinner.
My dad would cut the seat belts out of cars because, according to him, they were a "pain in the ass."
Hugs From Ella
How times have changed!
ReplyDeleteOn this side of the Pond we had PE, except for gymnastic lessons that were gym. I hated all of it, whatever it was called! Thanks for sharing memories of the 'olden days'.
Rosie xx