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I will put this notice on my post from now on, every time that I copy a post from Facebook, so all of my readers will know that this is not my work, but that of someone else. This, like so many of my posts have, came from Facebook. This is from a post titled This Blew My Mind. The URL is http://www.thisblewmymind.com, but it doesn’t take you to the website that I am talking about. I copied the post below so that you could read what the slide show had on it.
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Does this bring back good childhood memories for you?
What was your favorite thing to do as a child?
Share with friends and family, take them for a ride down memory lane.
http://www.thisblewmymind.com
This Blew My Mind
Close Your Eyes…..And Go Back.
GO BACK.
….Before the internet or PC or the MAC….
….Before semi-automatics and crack….
….Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari….
….Before cell phones, CDs, DVDs, voicemail and e-mail….
….Go way back, way…..way….way back.
I’m talkin’ bout hide and seek at dusk
Red light, Green light
Red Rover….Red Rover….
Playing kickball & dodgeball until the first…no…second…no…third
street light came on
Ring around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot Potato
Hop Scotch
Jump Rope
You’re It!!
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?
Seeing shapes in the clouds.
Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the windows open.
The sound of crickets.
Running through the sprinkler.
Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize in the bottom.
Cracker Jacks with the same thing.
Ice Pops with 2 sticks you could break and share with a friend.
.. but wait….there’s more…
Watching Saturday morning cartoons Tom and Jerry, serial adventures, Captain Midnight,
Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Boston Blackie.
Catchin’ lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning
Your first day of school.
Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses.
Climbing trees.
Swinging as high as you could in those long swings to try and reach the sky.
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers.
Jumpin’ down the steps.
Jumpin’ on the bed.
Pillow fights.
Runnin’ home from the western movie you just saw ’til you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard your stomach hurt.
Being tired from PLAYING.
WORK: meant taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, washing the car, or doing the dishes.
Your first crush.
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth CLOSED and your eyes OPEN).
Rainy days at school and the smell of damp concrete and chalk erasers.
Oh, I’m not finished yet….
Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer, so was a swig from the hose.
Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars of your bike.
Attaching pieces of cardboard to your bike frame to rub against your spokes.
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.
Class field trips with soggy sandwiches.
When nearly everyone’s mom was at home when the kids got there from school.
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a MIRACLE.
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 your parents took you to the cafeteria and it was a real treat.
When being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited
you at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn’t because of drive by shootings, drugs,
gangs, etc. We simply did not want our parents to get mad at us.
Didn’t that feel good? Just to go back and say, “Yeah, I remember that!” Well let’s keep
going!..
Let’s go back to the time when….
Decisions were made by going “eeny-meeny-miney-mo”
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, “do over!”
“Race Issues” meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire 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 and made better.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a “double-dog-dare”
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived during a more pleasant
simpler time!
I wonder how many of you that I have sent this to remember all of these things. I know some
of you are my vintage.
The slide show has ended.
Those of you who remember will have lived in an era that no one else will ever experience. The era has passed and slowly those of us who lived it are passing also. If you do not remember, then ask your parents, grandparents, or great grandparents. We went from am radio to the stars. Your era is here, be part of it. Make it worthwhile for future generations to build on.
Keep God in your lives.
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I grew up during that time. Most of “playtime” included using sticks or rocks as different things like a sword or a chair for your doll to sit on. We used to mix up dirt, flowers, leaves and water for “supper” for our dolls. There was no such thing as plastic food back then.
Television was in black and white and had tubes that made them run and they burned out quite often. There were only three channels besides the Public Broadcast Station (PBS). Color TV had not been invented yet either. That would come in 1969. FM radio had not even been discovered or invented, or whatever you call it.
old television insides
picture tube from old television
individual TV tubes
Records came in three sizes and speeds, which were 78 RPMs, 45 RPMs, and 33 and 1/3 RPMs. RPM -Revolutions Per Minute. Even the hole in the middle of the records was a different size for each speed. Notice the difference in the pictures of the records below. You can even see the little funny shaped disc in the middle of the one that is 33 and 1/3 record so that it could be played on a regular record player. You either had to put the disc in the middle of each record or a special attachment on the record player itself to be able to play the 33 and 1/3 records. If you didn’t want a whole phonograph player, you could buy just a turntable to play the records with.
this is a 78 RPM record
this is a 45 RPM record
this is a 33 and 1/3 RPM record
disc insert for 33 and 1/3 records
attachments that go on phonograph or turntable
record player with attachment
turntable without attachment
Telephones had a hand held receiver and a base with a dial pad that had 10 holes in it and it was numbered from 0 to 9, and you put your finger in the hole corresponding to the number you wanted to call and then turned the dial to the right until it came all the way around to the stopper.
Those were the days when parents could actually discipline their children. When you did something wrong your Mom, Dad, or whoever would call you to them to be punished. You knew if they only called your first name you could wait a little while before you had to go running to them. If they added your middle name to it when you were called, you had better not wait too long to go, but if they called your FULL NAME, you knew you had better get there as fast as you could because the longer you waited, the worse it would be. And if you were one that had your legs hit with a switch, you better pick a switch of the right size, or they would pick it for you. You learned really quickly what size of a switch to pick. Once the proper switch was picked, you got three hits on the back of your legs and that was it. At least that was how it was done if it was done properly. Of course there were always the parents that went overboard and actually beat and/or whipped their children unmercifully, and some would actually draw blood. Those were the parents that got in trouble by the police.
Things were a lot different back then in other ways too. It didn’t seem like people were as mean back then as they are now. Religion was practiced a lot more then. You actually had nice pretty clothes to wear to Sunday School and to Church, as well as dress shoes. Parents took their children to church and they went to their classes and the children went to their classes. Once the children were old enough, they went to the Church service with their parents and the whole family sat together in Church. Of course, this was before the days of Madeline O’Hare when people were free to talk openly about their religious beliefs and Bible reading, The Lord’s Prayer and The Pledge Of Allegiance to the USA were done at the start of every day at school. Unfortunately, ever since Madeline O’Hare had anything religious taken out of the schools and any place else that she could, the USA has been going downhill.
I feel like if only we could go back to that time, then things would be a lot better than what they are now. But, since we can’t go back to that time, at least the ones of us that grew up back then can have fond memories to fall back on when we think about our childhood.