Sunday, September 13, 2009

~ Growing Up Is Hard To Do.... ~

Are your toes tapping, your fingers snapping? Let's take a stroll ... (remember the stroll......)

Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow cooked.'

'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'

'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained! 'Mom cooked every day & when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, & if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it.

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had a credit card. (I remember the furor of our parents over the 'invention' of credit cards & the fear of them, swearing never to have one).

My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, & only had one speed, (slow), or we walked everywhere.

***(Important paragraph) We didn't have a television in our house until I was 14. It was, of course, black & white, & the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the NATIONAL ANTHEM & a poem about GOD; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m. & there was usually a locally produced news & farm show on, featuring local people. (TV test patterns came on TV after the last show, staying on all night until TV started in the morning. We only had a couple of channels to view.)

Before television we gathered around the radio to hear Lassie & The Lone Ranger & The Shadow Knows, etc.

I never had a telephone in my room.The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen & make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not even heard of. Milk was delivered to our door & in the winter the cream would pop up out of the bottle top.

All newspapers were delivered by boys & all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.

Remember how we thought we were so cool 'smoking' those candy cigarettes.

The restaurants had tableside jukeboxes. Remember those old glass soda bottles that had a stopper with holes punched in it, used as a clothes sprinkler.

Remember hand signals used in driving our cars, as automatic signals weren't invented yet?

How we kids used to pick strawberries & raspberries all day in that hot sun in the summer to earn money.

A fun day was running through the sprinkler hose to stay cool in the summer. The hours of playing cards, jacks, hop scotch, kick the can ...

Growing up just isn't what it used to be, is it?

What a fun conversation of yesteryear ... TY Marg, it was fun sharing memories.

NOTE ~ Visit our new blogger lady ~ she just started tonight. shabbycottageshoppe.blogspot.com


34 comments:

  1. I am not old enough to remember all the things you mentioned but I sure remember quite a few of them!!

    What a lovely post! Lot of things there to ponder over.

    Mary Ann

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  2. Oh, I can relate to every one of those... and more! Kids today missed out on so much! I have such happy memories of my childhood, life was so simple back then, I treasure my memories so. My "jewelry" was my skatekey on a shoelace around my neck! Thanks for the memories! Julie Marie

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  3. What a lovely post. Those were the days.
    Hugs, Sue

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  4. My gosh, it is as if you were writing about my own childhood and all the memories that I have. Oddly enough, my hubby and I were just telling the kids the other day about some of the very things that you mentioned here, like black and white tv and how my family was the last one on the block to get color. Or that movies were all rated equally for ALL people to see, no sew, nudity or violence. How wonderful to turn on the TV back then and not have to worry that something indecent will be on that station that you don't want your kids to see. Kick the can, hopscotch, the sprinkler, oh what lovely memories! Neighborhood hide and seek games and kick ball in the middle of the street. Yes, the street could still be played in back then without fearing for your life! Oh, THANK you for such a fantastic post. I have read it twice already just to enjoy it all the more and make sure that i do not miss a thing. FAntastic!! Let the kids laugh, we had great childhoods, easy going, less fear, and less stress and I think we all turned out just fine!!! Debby

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  5. Your post gave me so-o-o-o many memories!! I think we had the same chilhood!! I had one of those 50 lb bike that I took such good care of. I loved it!! We had a TV when they first came out because my Uncle owned the appliance store my Daddy worked in. We were so lucky!! We never ate at fast food joints...there wern't any.... we ate at home...as a family.
    Love Ya..... What a wonderful trip down memory lane!!
    Love,
    Marilyn

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  6. Hi Marydon! What a lovely stroll back through the years! I was pretty much in the same boat, except we didn't ever listen to shows on the radio. Who kneew that those would be the good ol' days, huh? Oh for a slice of that American pie again. I get a sense of it whenever I see a couple of boys riding their bikes with their fishing poles, or kids flying kites at the park, family picnics...I was just telling my daughters the other day how blessed I was to grow up when I did.

    Hope you have a wonderful week, sweetie!

    HUGS,
    Becky

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  7. You must have grown up right next door to my house where we also never had fast food but rather mom cooked and served it when dad came home from work. We never bought anything unless we had cash to pay for it. And, yes, we did have to finish our food before we could leave the table. TV came to our house when I was 16 and it was snow on gray most of the time so that when Westinghouse Theater came on you began praying you'd be able to see how it ended! Loved the memories, Marydon! Your experience was so similar to mine...amazing!

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  8. Thanks so much for the "stroll". I'll try to add a couple more that I remember. My sister & I cutting paper dolls out of the old Montgomery Ward or Sears Catalog 'cause Mom just got her new one. Laying on the floor reading the Sunday funnies together out loud. Having only 2 pair of shoes, one for everyday that you had to polish with cream/paste polish & brush to shine, and a good pair for Sunday School. We had to help with household chores everyday; like washing the dishes, sweeping the porch, making our own beds., and there was only one bathroom, and we hung clothes on the clothesline to dry and washed them in a wringer washing machine, helping weed the garden, building a "tent" over the clothesline, pitting cherries to can by using the jar with the special lid spring thing you hit with your hand to "push" the pits out into the bottom of the jar...one at a time., the smell of the leftover piecrust cut into strips & sprinkled with sugar/cinnamon hot from the oven on a cold winter day.

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Thanks, Marydon. We sure were lucky!

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  9. Hi, Marydon,
    Love your post today! Thank you for giving me a wonderful stroll down memory lane. I know children today would think we had missed out on a lot in our childhood. I think not! Our childhoods were magical. Have a beautiful week. Vicki

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  10. Marydon, I go back lots further than you do - for me it was no telephone at all, no running water in the house, coal stoves and an outhouse. A one room school, gravel roads, no bike until I was 10 years old, no television at all until after I had my first baby. Sounds primitive - but I was a happy kid and turned out okay and think that the kiddies today have way too much stuff. Of course, part of it is due to grandparents like me!! I suppose in another 50 years, these days will seem primitive - but I certainly can't imagine how they could!!!! Everything changes, doesn't it? (I just now spotted on the post above someone writing about the leftover piecrust cut in strips and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar! My mom did that - and I did that for my kids. Wonder how many make homemade pie crust anymore. Do you know what, I don"t! LOL!! I am resting on my laurels. Carol

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  11. Marydon,
    Wow, you just took me back to my childhood. What a wonderful post. I do believe that our children today miss out on so much. Sure, they have available to them high tech gadgets, etc. But they miss out on the great childhoods we had.

    Nancy

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  12. Hi Peanut Butter, What a wonderful post. I so love it. You know my grandkids are still in awe that we only had cartoons on Saturday and that was only until 11am and then they were gone for another week. There was no Nicolodeon, or Disney channel. We didn't get to watch cartoons until our Saturday chores were done. We got 50 cents a week allowance and 25 cents of that we gave to the church. I too ironed with one of those large pop bottles with a sprinkler on the top. I remember standing on a chair to iron to reach the ironing board, and we wouldn't dream of allowing our children to start that early today. So many changes. We walked or road our bikes too. We lived in a small town and there were no buses or even taxis. You walked everywhere. There were no cafeterias in school either everyone took a lunch in a lunchbox or paper sack with your name wrote on it. That is just how it was. Those were the good old days. Thanks for the memories sweetie. I just love it. Country hugs and love always, Cherry Jelly

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  13. What a sweet post Marydon!

    Thanks for your kind visit my friend.
    ~Blessings to you, ~Melissa :)

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  14. Hi Marydon...what a very neat post. Thank you for reminding us of what the simple days were like. Those were the good old days I might add!!! Even though I am too young to remember most of these, they all sound so wonderful. Our lives are too fast today...too fast to enjoy the simple things.
    We are so spoiled today, yet we are missing out on so much that our parents were able to enjoy...one being LIFE itself!
    everything vintage

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  15. This was a cute post! I remember as a little girl rushing home to watch The Mickey Mouse Club and then American Bandstand. The kids were doing the stroll. I loved it.
    Tell your hubby the pictures with the churches, forests and birds was Sitka and the other city shots were Juneau! He's good! ;)
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  16. I'm with you! Guess I am dating myself!

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  17. Hi Marydon,
    Boy did you take me back. So fun remembering. I'm sad that our children never got to know these times.
    Hugs,
    June

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  18. I love this post!!!!! What a stroll down memory lane, yes I remember it all. I wonder what our children remember of our times. Thanks!
    Kelley

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  19. Hi Marydon,
    What a wonderful post! How funny it sounds now but those were some good times. I grew up in the 70’s ~ no computers, cell phones or caller ID. We even had to DIAL the number on the avocado green phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen. Heavens!
    Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
    Gail

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  20. Marydon,
    What a great post! My job as a young girl was to iron the sheets, pillow cases and hankerchiefs. all the easy stuff! I remember the sprinkle topper and remember when we got our first iron with the sprayer! Then we got permamentpress sheets, WooHoo more time for Playing outdoors! I was never home in the summer. Played in the creeks, riding my bike all over the neighborhood and playing cards, jacks and hopscotch! My favorite thing to do was dress up in old prom dresses my neighber gave me! She worked in an orphanage I lived beside and what ever dresses that were donated to the girls that they didn't want she would let me pick a couple each year so my friends and I could play in them. We played outside in these. What my neighbers watched makes me laugh now. I wish they were still around to ask what they were thinking! Wow, thanks for giving me the chance to relive some wonderful times I had! I may have to write a post on my blog about some if this!

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  21. Remember lots of this. A nice afternoon was raking leaves with my parents in the fall. Still look back on those days and smile. I could amuse myself with paper dolls for hours and I sewed lots of my doll's clothes. I'd go to one of the five and dimes -- that's an antiquated idea! -- like Newberry's and buy a yard of cloth and a pattern for fifty cents and have weeks of fun. My dream in life was to get to Disneyland. From Connecticut, California seemed as far as the moon.

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  22. Hi Marydon,

    I loved your post and the stroll down memory lane.
    I could relate to a lot, no fast food but I nice home cooked meal, and we would eat around the table every night.
    Playing with dolls and making clothes for them.
    Life seemed to be a lot less complicated than it does now and the pace of life was so much slower.
    they were good days and thanks for reminding us about your growing up days.

    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  23. I relate to all of that, Marydon. Remember Rock Candy???? We walked to school ---and everything was so safe back then that we kids could go anywhere in town --and felt safe. My family never even locked their doors/windows. Times have changed, haven't they????

    We didn't have a TV until I was about 16 or so. AND---it was alot of 'snow' then!!!

    We had our milk delivered also. Oh ---I could go on and on and on.

    Wonderful post and such great memories.
    Hugs,
    Betsy---who also loved to play Kick the Can

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  24. OH how fun to remember these memories. I remember kick the can. When I grew up yes there was some video games being made like Sega :0) but our family couldn't afford all the best things out of life, we had each other and we had the Lord to get us threw life. I am sure we had more than some but there are some things, my mom and dad wouldn't let us have, and know as a parent I see why. You have to really provide things that children need not things they want in life. Things people want are in the end just possesions, and we can not take them with us to Heaven. Take care sweety. I love you post.

    Hugs,
    Heidi

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  25. As I read this, I could picture our house where I lived until I was 12. So much of what you wrote about was true for me. There were 5 of us sharing 1 bathroom. A treat for us was going to Dairy Queen or A&W for a root beer float in the summer, or drive in movies where I put on my pajamas and my dad would carry us kids in to bed after we got home. Great memories, Thanks for taking me back.
    Debra

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  26. This was great! I loved hearing about your memories. I grew up in a different generation, but quite a few on the list held true for me too. Hope you have a great week ahead of you!

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  27. What a lovely trip down the world of my childhood too. I love it all as it was a wonderful time when life moved slower and I knew how to turn off my brain. Thanks!

    The Raggedy Girl

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  28. I remember most of these!!! What has happened to our society?

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  29. I remember so many of those things. Sometimes I wished we could go back to those days.

    Willow

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  30. I love this - kids today just don't know what they're missing. Even though they're not missing any THING - and think they're being mistreated if they are!

    Oh, for simpler times... with less "stuff".

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  31. Hi Marydon,
    Oh yes, I do remember many things of what you wrote about.What ever happened to the American Anthem anyway on T.V.?
    We had home cooked meals too every night and home made dessert. Not much store bought. My sister and I would ride our bikes for hours and play double dutch.
    A great post I enjoyed it very much.
    Elizabeth

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  32. I just know I am an "old soul". I would have loved to lived in the innocence of your times. My childhood was pretty simple, playing outdoors all the time. But I still yearn for the days you spoke of. So beautiful.
    Thank you for sharing.
    And thanks for stopping by my blog.
    Traci

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  33. times certainly have changed. Definitely life was less complicated in the old days. Growing up without all the frills and electronics was less distracting and almost certainly easier.

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  34. Oh gosh I forgot about the stroll. You brought back alot of memories. Gosh the kids now days really have it easy. One thing that grips me is why these kids dont get out and earn money picking fruit. Blows me away.I did..anyway..love your blog. Yes there was no driveins. But movie driveins. Well Mcdonalds was first maybe??

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