Remember when……. You knew the joy of….. playing marbles, and winning and losing, fair and square… How to draw a hopscotch with chalk, and find the perfect object to toss as your marker……mine was a bracelet with just enough weight…..so you could throw your marker into the next square, and not go outside the lines……..balancing on one leg, and hoping your ankle will hold you, when you lean over to pick up your marker, as you advance to the top and back again…..hopping all the way…. Coloring in a coloring book on a warm summer day……and forgetting the crayons outside…only to find they had melted….I can still smell the melted crayons…. the first day of school, when your teacher gave you a brand new box of crayons, and you open the lid to see the perfectly line up colors with perfect points….. Playing hide n’ seek in the neighborhood on warm summer evenings……calling olly olly oxen free free freeeee…..signaling those hiding to come out……because you are the first one safe….. Walking to the school playground to play ball……and not being afraid of strangers… Making tents out of blankets……and acting out books we had read…..like Bedknob and Broomsticks…..with only a blanket and broom ……and our imaginations……. Playing cowboys and Indians, when they were only seen as teams…and not good or bad, or one race or another….. Flying kites in the fall……making the tail out of torn sheets…..and trying to fly yours higher than your brother’s…..and doing it!……gently letting out the string…so not to cause the kite to descend too quickly……..and when it flies steady……you marvel at how high up it is…..and far away …….you feel as if you are in the air…...you start to wind up the string and the kite starts to take a nose dive……and you gently let out more… then slowwwly wind up the string…….…there was an art to it….. Simple times….. Playing baseball in the street….with enough kids in the neighborhood for two teams…a dad would volunteer to be the ump… Roller skating for hours….with four wheels on each skate…..up and down the sidewalks of the neighborhood…. Riding bikes…..for hours…….. Washing family dishes……taking out trash….cleaning rooms for allowance… Hunting for ladybugs…..and finding them…and setting them free…...now they are rare….. Bees were everywhere…I stepped on them every summer, and would be in bed for days because I was allergic…..but I kept going barefoot because the grass felt so good under my feet….. Now bees are endangered….. Sunburns…..the kind where the skin on your nose would peel off piece by piece….I would carefully try to get it all in one piece…..raw red skin was exposed….eventually I had to wear white zinc oxide on my nose all summer…..I felt like a clown….but it worked…..we didn’t have sunscreen yet…… Waiting all year to watch the Wizard of Oz on tv with the family gathered together…..no pause….no rewind….no watch when ya want….one shot…..one time…..in black and white…. No DVDs……no CDs…..no smart phone….no IPad…no laptop….no facebook……no twitter….no tweet…… We had pay phones on corners……telephones were left at home…..we talked with each other….instead of texting to each other….. Letters handwritten…..conversations by mouth…..smiles on our faces….. Simple times……kids were kids…..I played with dolls until I was 13……now girls are dressing like Beyonce at 5…… Where are we going in such a rush……life is short enough…….stop……breathe it in……take a moment to experience the joy of blowing the fuzz off the dandelions….. Now……I walk by empty faces…..with heads down….typing feverishly on cellphones….not watching where they are going….not holding the hands of their children as they cross the street…..too busy texting … A table at a restaurant……no one engaged in conversation…..everyone texting on their cellphones to someone who is not there….they are not present in the moment….they are archiving nonsense on the phone…. My grandma use to say….in 1956… I remember when………and those were the good ole days…….and……the world is goin’ to hell in a hand basket……that was in the 50s when times were simple….. What would she think now? Now….I’m the one saying……those were the days ….and the world is going to hell in a hand basket…. I saw my first color tv in 1963 when I came home from junior high school…..there it was…..a large metal box on four legs…..with a movie in color! In our living room! It seemed magical…….we only saw color at the movie theatre on Saturdays……when our parents dropped us off….. I marveled when I first used the internet…..I thought how wonderful to have all this information at our fingertips…..and communicating with people I didn’t know….in chatrooms……from other time zones… Now…..I wonder was the internet a good thing for humanity? The world makes me want to go live in a cabin on a river… away from the noise and the rush…..to simplify my life…….maybe play hopscotch…….or marbles…..and draw pictures for hours….with crayons…. watch bees……and butterflies land gently on a flower…..hmmmmm……the good ole days can be found…..if one…..just slows down……and turns off the noise……and electronics……there is peace in nature…..and there can be…in life……
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 02:19:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015