When I read this email a ton of memories flooded my brain…  enjoy! 

If you are old enough, take a walk with me.  Close your eyes and go back  ...before the Internet ...before semiautomatics and crack ...before SEGA or  SuperNintendo ...way back ...    I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk.  Sittin' on the porch, Simon Says,  Kick the Can, Red light, Green light.  Lunch boxes with a thermos...chocolate  milk, going home for lunch, penny candy from the store, hopscotch,  butterscotch, skates with keys, Jacks, Mother May I?  Hula Hoops and  sunflower seeds, Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights, wax lips and mustaches,  Mary Janes, saddleshoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the  bottom, running through the sprinkler, circle pins, bobby pins, Mickey Mouse  Club, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty... all in black & white.    When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going  somewhere.  Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts...backyard shows, lemonade  stands, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, sittin' on the curb, staring  at clouds, jumping down the steps, jumping on the bed, pillow fights, getting  "company," ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree, Jackie Gleason,  white gloves, walking to church, walking to the movie theater, being tickled  to death, running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your  stomach hurt, being tired from playin' ... Remember that?  Not steppin' on a  crack or you'll break your  mother's back...paper chains at Christmas, silhouettes of Lincoln and  Washington ...the smell of paste in school and Evening in Paris.    What about the girl that had the big bubbly handwriting, who dotted her "i's"  with hearts??  The Stroll, popcorn balls, & sock hops...Remember when...when  there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyer) and the  only time you wore them at school was for "gym."  And the girls had those  ugly uniforms.    When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up.  When nearly everyone's Mom  was at home when the kids got home from school.  When nobody owned a purebred  dog.    When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter, a huge bonus.  When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.  When girls neither dated  nor kissed until late high school, if then.  When your Mom wore nylons that  came in two pieces.  When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female  teachers had their hair done, everyday and wore high heels.    When 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!  When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or  towels hidden inside the box.    When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry  groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.  When it was  considered a great  privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.  When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed...and did!  When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk  a test or chew gum.  And the prom was in the auditorium and we danced to an  orchestra, and all the girls wore pastel gowns and the boys wore suits for  the first time and we stayed out  all night.    When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber  or watch submarine races, and people went steady and girls wore a class ring  with an inch of wrapped dental floss or yarn coated with pastel frost nail  polish so it would fit her finger.    And no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in the  car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked.  And you got in big  trouble if you  accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key. Remember  lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like  "That cloud looks like a..."    And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game.  Back then, baseball was not a psychological group learning experience -- it  was a game.    Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic  seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.  And...with  all our progress ...don't you just wish ...just once ...you could slip back  in time and savor the slower pace ...and share it with the children of the  80's and 90's ...    So send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys,  Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The  Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk ...as well  as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with  bike rides, playing in cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits to the  pool ...and eating Kool-aid  powder with sugar.    When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate  that awaited a misbehaving student at home.  Basically, we were in fear for  our lives, but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.  Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!  But we all survived  because their love was greater than the threat.    Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!  

Submitted by Robyn Wright Kuester  robynkuester@hotmail.com