Monday, November 3, 2008

Remembering When

As I pulled into the garage tonight and my window was down I was thinking back on my childhood. This is how my crazy mind works. The window was down, I had a bunch of "stuff" in the car that I needed help with to get inside. My thoughts turned to calling my daughter and asking her to come to the "drive up window" to pick up her orders. You see, when I was younger, we used to play drive up window at the bank. That was back when there was no direct deposit paychecks and you had to go to the bank to cash your check. This started a whole train wreck of thoughts of ... I remember when.

I remember when ...
... gas stations were full service and the gas guy would come out to your car and ask, "Fill 'er up? High test or regular? Check under your hood?" He also would have a wad of cash in his pocket because people paid with cash back then. He usually had a rag hanging out of his back pocket, too.

... you'd go to the mailbox with excitement because there might be a letter in there instead of just bills and junk mail like we have today.

... KFC was known as Kentucky Fried Chicken and their extra crispy was better.

... Hardee's had charbroiled burgers and a special sauce that tasted great.

... going to McDonald's and getting a burger and fries was a special treat.

... milk was delivered by the milk man and left at the door in a tin box.

... After church on Sunday, the family would take a Sunday afternoon drive. Sometimes we'd drive for an hour to get to a really good restaurant where we'd have to wait another hour or so to be seated. Where I grew up in Maryland, two of our favorites were Peter Pan and Friendly Farms.

... We'd go to drive-in movies dressed in our PJs so that when the second feature came on and it was late, we could go to sleep.

... Typewriters were manual and to make a copy you used carbon paper.

... When you went to buy new shoes, a person waited on you. They measured your foot, went and got the shoes, and actually helped you get the shoes on. They also knew the products!

... Elementary school boys thought it was cool to eat glue paste. It came in a plastic jar with a flat stick to spread it. Do they have those anymore?

... The teachers would make copies using, help me here, memeographs? The copies would come out with purple ink and everyone loved to smell them.

... Phones were rotary dial and you shared a line.

... there were only three or four tv channels to choose from.

... the family would have dinner together every night at the dinner table.

What are your memories?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember:
--watching cartoons for 5 hours on Saturday mornings

--when we had "Christmas" parties in elementary school

--being away from home from morning to night, hanging out all over the neighborhood

--when my mom and every other mom in the neighborhood would yell out the front door that lunch was ready

--when my brother snorted pixiestix candy up his nose and then sneezed it out all over our conversion van. That's right, a conversion van.

--when it was "cool" to wear shorts that go down to your calves (jams) in the brightest colors that the human eye could process

--the slide projectors in school that would make a loud beep on the audio tape that would tell you to advance the slide

--when the majority of the parents of my fellow students actually cared about what happened at school and were involved in the PTA

Anonymous said...

I remember summer nights catching lightening bugs

When the street lights came on it was time to go in for the night.

Dodge ball, Red Rover,Hopscotch Jump Rope, Jacks and Superballs.

Board games that made a rainy day fun.

Dandelion bubble makers.

Actually having snow ON the ground before they even thought about closing schools and the anticipation of it all.

Sitting in the library on a Saturday afternoon reading Little Women or Hardy Boys.