Old Days

Turn off the music play at the bottom of my blog if you would like to listen to this:

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We rarely had pizza. We didn't even have McDonalds where I lived. KFC was an occasional treat. The best was A&W when we got fresh rootbeer in frosty mugs . Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles , ride our bikes into town and cash them in at the corner store and buy penny candy.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back by dark. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours searching for frogs in the ditch or tadpole down by the culvert hoping to grow our own frogs, or riding our bikes on the dirt hills.

We played in creek beds , dug in the dirt, went on adventures in the cow pasture, played cards like War or Slap Jack for hours. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms.......... TV as reserved for Sunday afternoon when Walt Disney came on.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We made mud pies from dirt (and made our little sisters taste them) . We stayed up late to shine our flashlights in the grass so we could catch worms to take fishing.

Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas started about 2 weeks before the actual holiday.

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthday.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Sports teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'.....

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them !!

CONGRATULATIONS!
PS - The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age