1964. Beatles had just broke big in America. Lot’s of great British Invasion music coming from England.
Great television, young so no bills to pay, Lakewood, Ohio (suburb of Cleveland), sandbox in back, summers of breakfast to dinner — having the run of the city, open screen doors in our home day and night, sandlot baseball, M80s and Ladyfingers, plastic army pen, summer camp, fishing, lightning bugs. Mom and Dad happy with 5 kids. Lot’s of friends on our street due to large catholic families. No drugs apparent anywhere.
plastic army pen = plastic green army men (used in the sandbox)
All that was true for me too, except that my Dad died in December ‘63.
Half of those neighbor kids are dead now. It’s amazing, they just seem to be dropping like flies. If what I see happening to the kids that I grew up with, no one is going to have worry about sustaining SS, the baby boom generation that I grew up with are not living to collect it.
Another friend and neighbor from my childhood died on the the 4th of July at 62.