Nostalgic Memories of America

August 17, 2003 | Myself

[hardhead]

This is a Sunday afternoon exercise in fun and memories of days-gone-by. We do a lot of fightin' and arguin' here in FR during the week, so on Our Lord's day of rest, how about relating your memories of things that have passed on into the dustbin of American history - things you yearn for or wish were still among us.

Have you caught yourself saying to your kids or your friends, 'well, when I was a little kid, we did it this way' or 'we didn't have any money but we were happy'.

[hardhead]

I hope that no matter your political or religious philosophy that you can enter this 'No-Man's-Land' and just dredge up some good recollections of your past. I thought about my own fond memories and it wasn't much of a battle - a trip on a train, walking into a butcher shop and telling the butcher what cut you wanted and from which piece, penny candy, sitting out on your porch at night, actually talking to your neighbor, living in an extended family where everybody took care of everybody else and the government didn't get involved. On and on.

[netmilsmom]

I really wish that my girls could know what it was like to leave in the morning (after the work was done of course) and know that one must make it home when the street lights came on. To be at another child's house and have that mom hand out home made popsicles on tupperware sticks. I would like them to be able to trick or treat. Stay out for two hours and the delight of getting in line at their own home only to have mom or dad pretend not to recognize the angel or princess at the door.
My girls are driven for fun because the only kids here are spoiled brats who own every toy ever made and dying for real adult attention. I can't stand it.
Thanks for this post, it will be fun.

[mrtysmm]

"Sunday Dinner"...which was always at 2:00...sharp. Nobody questioned it, they were just there. There were 'pickins' before and conversation about the past week, good or bad. It was a time the entire family got together. I still have 'Sunday dinner' even tho our family is somewhat dispersed. Those who can be here are, those who cannot at least call. It always did, and does seem a way to end a week and start a new one.

[jocon307]

Two or three things I remember,

1. the butcher shop, going with my grandma and her reminding me that I couldn't take his usual free slice of bolgna on a Friday. I love bolgna to this day, and its because of that man.

2. going out for the sunday papers with my dad and brothers on a saturday night. and we'd get candy too, for sure. and coming home and reading the comics and then watching the great old comedies on TV. Like the Marx brothers, or anything with Bing Crosby or Bob Hope.

These are the things I remember. We knew they were great at the time, I wonder what my daughter remembers that's the same.

[Arpege92]

The look on my hubby's face when we found out that I was going to have a baby boy! Although, that was almost twelve years ago, I will forever remember that!

[hardhead]

Speaking as a member of the male persuasion, you are 100% right - there is absolutely nothing in the world more supernatural and lovely than the glow of a pregnant woman or one who is ready or has given birth. My wife, I love her and bless her more each day than yesterday for the lives of our 5 children.

[ThreePuttinDude]

The taste of a Root Beer flavored Popsicle on a hot Chicago afternoon.

[hardhead]

Regarding your tagline, that would be wild - at two very 'nostalgic' stadiums!

[Proud2BeFree]

Sitting at the piano with my grandmother teaching me songs that her grandmother taught her; Sunday afternoons in the swing on her porch, no matter what the season; Running home from school because Mom said that morning she was making homemade vegetable soup; Hopping on the bicycle and running downtown to the A&P; Going through the little drive through window at the bank on my bike to deposit the money in my savings account that I made cutting grass or selling greeting cards; Friday nights at the football game, then hurrying home because Mom and Dad were having a drop in, gathering in a bedroom with my siblings have having a mini-party in there; Saturday mornings riding bikes up to the football field to see if there were any of those little footballs the cheerleaders threw still there; playing football in the side yard with the guys from the neighborhood; getting in some minor trouble (like one of the group throwing a water balloon at one of the old ladies in the neighborhood) and rushing home to confess to Mom because it sure did go a lot easier when she heard it from us, rather than the little old lady who was sure to call; all those wonderful times when the cousins from the extended family visited - Granny and Grampa's brothers and sisters grandkids; listing to stories about my grandparent's past; Then there were the times sitting on the porch at the beach hearing stories of how it was during the Depression, World War II; hearing of things like ration cards, and mandatory lights out curfews along the coast in case a German U-Boat was off the coast and might decide to fire.

It's funny isn't it - not a single thought was on something material. Nothing a toy or a present. Most of it was about my family.

[EllaMinnow]

I watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" with my kids a few weeks ago, and I told them how much my childhood was like that. Going anywhere in town that I wanted, as long as it was within walking distance and I was home for meals. So much freedom, and so much fun.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" took place in the 30's, and I was a child in the 60's - but the southern childhood of long summer days and bare feet was the same.
I don't know when it disappeared, but my kids surely didn't have the same kind of freedom.

[Arpege92]

My hubby is a devoted father with a great deal of love and patience! Just last week, my hubby left the house to go to work but forgot to say goodbye to our son before he left. I didn't think nothing of it but fifteen minutes later, he called our son on the phone and told him that he forgot to say goodbye and that he loved him. My son and I are very thankful to have this man in our lives. :-}

[cake_crumb]

Huge barrels of enormous, Kosher dill pickles, serve yourself. Cream soda. The swimming hole, even for those who had a pool. Hunting for nightcrawlers. Camping in the yard. Being allowed to play competetive games in school and getting prizes for winning. Playing mudball and paintball with rubber band and stick guns. Model rockets. Sparklers. The time my brother and I tried to build our own two man glider, which we crashed (ok, not such a good memory, but we were only 9 and 11)

[hardhead]

See, marriage is still alive and well in the republic! Our kids have often said that some of their friends have told them: 'You are so lucky, your parents are still married!' My parents were married 55 years when my pop died. My grandparents were married 75 years!

[Ol' Sox]

I remember hearing the bell of the Good Humor ice cream truck coming down the street. I knew for certain that I had no money but stuck my hand in my pocket anyway and found the quarter that my mom had stuck in there! Enough for a Toasted Almond!! Thanks Mom!

[bonfire]

Hide and Seek outside on summer evenings with the neighbor kids.......

Watching ENDLESSLY for U.F.O.'s......

Putting on neighborhood plays .....

Singing harmony with my mom and sis while doing dishes.....

[freedumb2003]

All the neighborhood kids playing Monopoly until midnight in the neighbor's back yard when we were like 12 or 13. All ethnicities, but nobody noticed since designated victimhood was still 5 or 10 years away.

Having all the kids in the neighborhood write, direct and then put on a play for the adults - parents and non-parents alike -- who paid a nickel to get in (it was usually in someone's garage or back yard) to see it.

Making a really neat fort out of blankets, cardboard boxes and ingenuity. Then getting extension cords and sleeping all night while eating too much junk foiod we bought with the deposit from coke bottles.

Ah, today's kids miss all this between being coddled by over-protective parents and mesmerised by TV and video games.

[suzyq5558]

a couple of things i remember are my neighbor who lived down the road made hires rootbeer from scratch and it took a week to make,all the kids in the rural area where we lived went to mrs. Stalders house for rootbeer.
we rode our bikes to the lake to go swimming.
we were gone from early morning intill dark having fun and not one adult ever worried about where we were. i loved living out in the country as a kid. we still live out of town and i do let my kids ride bikes and go down the road to play with the nieghbor kids.
but i worry if i dont know where they are because you never know nowadays and thats sad.

[hardhead]

Depending where you lived, big barrels of SOUR pickles and black olives! I used to run to my aunt's sub shop for lunch from school (3 blocks away) and get a sub sandwich, a 10-cent soda and have 5 cents left for the pinball machine. (my 50 cents a day lunch money)

[Jim Scott]

Random memories:

Going 'down celler' to keep cool on really, really hot days. Inner tubes in tires - complete with patches - that made dandy flotation devices at the lake. My red and cream-colored Schwinn bicycle that had one 'speed, 'coaster' brakes and a neat speedometer that I once got up to 30 mph on a downgrade. New Buster Brown shoes every fall for school. Coke and Pepsi-Cola in thick bottles (the Coke bottles were green). Brylcreem ("a little dab'll do ya"). The excitment of the 'Good Humor man' coming down our street, complete with his white uniform and cap. Ordering a '2-cents plain' at the soda fountain when funds were low.

On the radio (with it's glowing vacuum tubes): 'Amos and Andy', 'Life with Luigi' (Basco) - played by J. Carroll Naish, 'Our Miss Brookes' and of course 'Dick Tracy', 'Fibber McGee and Molly' along with (later)'Gunsmoke' and Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen (Allen's Alley) and the 'quiz shows': 'You Bet Your Life' with Groucho Marx, 'Break the Bank' with Bert Parks (later the Miss America Emcee for years) and the 'soap operas': 'Young Widder Brown', 'Stella Dallas' and many more. I even remember the tear-jerker 'quiz' show: 'Queen For a Day'. I loved radio and it fired up my young imagination in a way that TV never could.

Party lines, wash hung out to dry every monday, Dad coming home with pastry every Sunday morning, everybody 'dressing up' for church (men in suits, women in dresses) and store clerks who actually wanted to help you and acted happy that you were in their store. Huge 78 RPM records. Mom's wringer washer that I was always told to keep my hands away from.

Yes, unfortunately we had segregration and we sweated in the summer without air conditioning, we didn't have computers, the internet, cell phones, color TV or lots of other good things that we now take for granted, like cars that go 150,000 miles with few problems (50,000 used to be average, 100,000 was really pushing it for most vehicles) but we had a simplier way of life in many respects , compared to today, and certainly more public decorum and friendlier attitudes toward one another. Life changes and we all have to move on but it's always pleasant to also take a moment to look back, too. Thanks for the opportunity to do so.

[cake_crumb]

"Depending where you lived, big barrels of SOUR pickles and black olives! I used to run to my aunt's sub shop for lunch from school (3 blocks away) and get a sub sandwich, a 10-cent soda and have 5 cents left for the pinball machine. (my 50 cents a day lunch money)"

Heheh...I did something similar at a tiny deli down the street.