Things I loved about the old days....how about you?

Posted by covidstinks2023 @covidstinks2023, Sep 6, 2023

I loved:

1) Riding my bike to the store with little money and getting a bag of candy and a drink with the neighborhood kids.

2) The smell of Mama's kitchen and her homemade apple turnovers.

3) Riding down the rode with my daddy in his truck.

4) Koolaid and watermelon on the front porch in the summer with the neighbor kids.

5) Playing outside and riding bikes, playing tag, hide and go seek until the street light came on and then knowing I better be home!

6) We were not allowed to stay in the house in the summer. We created our on fun. Forts in the woods, softball, dodgeball, listening to the transistor radio, comic books, etc.

7) Neighbors talked to each other and took an interest in kids.

8) We did not have a lot....I never realized it! Mama & Daddy could stretch a dollar.

9) The clothes we wore to school were not name brand and no judgement.

10) I miss the small service stations with all the service and politeness.

11) Us kids felt safe in the neighborhood.

12) Windows up with a fan inside, front door unlocked, keys left in the car.....Unbelievable we did that!

13) No seatbelts....but Mama's arm would fly out in front of us if she had to stop suddenly and protect us.

14) Friday nights were always hamburger nights!

15) Catching Lightening Bugs.

16) Taking in stray animals.

17) My daddy was an army man and we always picked up army men & sailors that were thumbing a ride. We were safe back then!

18) I remember when the first McDonalds opened in our town. What a treat! It was cheap!

19) I miss the respect that as kids we were taught to show to authority such as teachers, pastors, policeman, etc., I was taught to say "Yes Sir, Yes Ma'am and Thank you."

20) Drinking from the garden hose on those hot summer days!

21) Mama hung our clothes on the clothesline (air was cleaner back then) and our sheets always smelled so good.

22) We had a garden and that first tomato sandwhich......Ahh!!!!

23) Wearing our Sunday Best to Church.

24) My first Thumbelina doll.

25) How Daddy & Mama loved each other and us. Family time in the front of the T.V. with rabbit ears. I WAS THE REMOTE CONTROL!

(Sorry to be so lengthy. Feeling sentimental.)

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I [much too often] wish things could be better in our present world. We have some great inventions with technology...as long as it us used wisely. Like many of you, I wish for the days of simplicity, honesty, kindness, and love of neighbors. We lived out in the country; were very poor, but we had all we needed, and more love than most families will ever know these days. Mother made all our clothes, cooked everything from scratch, grew almost everything we ate, and taught as to cook, clean, sew, can, and work hard; especially to be kind, sharing neighbors, and always be honest and respectful. Yes mam; No man, please, and thank you. Like some of you, we made our own fun; outside whenever possible. We did not even have running water until I was 15. The outhouse worked until then. By the way, I am now 80. I taught my 8 children the same way. Grandchildren; spoiled rotten.

REPLY
@pml

Hi Valerie,
That is so sad about your sister in law's situation in UK! No one even saying hello to her! My husband and I have a similar situation in our neighborhood since younger people moved in. They don't seem to want to be friendly to older people. (I'm 77 and my husband is 82.) It's sad that the world has turned out this way. But we can make a difference by being friendly whenever we have the chance. Although, that doesn't seem to work too well with our younger neighbors.
I noticed in your second comment that you mentioned jigsaw puzzles. My husband and I love jigsaw puzzles! We are doing one now with 1200 pieces! It's a challenge but so relaxing. We work on it every night. My husband built a special puzzle table to do them on. Do you still do jigsaw puzzles? They used to be a lot cheaper - 99 cents! Now they are up to $20!
We like doing the older ones that are mostly photographs instead of paintings. Plus we get them cheaper at second hand stores.
PML

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Hi... no , no more jigsaw puzzles... but I will tell you what a brat I was. Yep, while Mum and brother doing a jigsaw I took a piece and waited til they were finished; am almost too ashamed to confess. She didnt get mad at me at all... now with some eye issues and Ipad, no longer do them but my one adult daughter does... loves theml Yes my sister in law 85 2 days ago and today wedding anniversary but my brother passed away 2017. Had a sore on head and the rest is as you can imagine, a year long battle with cancer. She looked after him at home with nurse visit every single day to change dressing until about a week before he passed. The had 2 boys and one died Christmas Day 2013 age 45 the other drops by to see she is ok every morning..... At one time she had the family of four; my elderly Mum moved in; and she looked after grand-child - now alone.... never learned to drive. I agree, younger neighbours barely wave... but when I was their age I wonder if I did the same to my elderly neighbours....... if we could only have another stab at "Life."

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I think you lived my life!!! All those things same for me growing up in the 60s and 70s.

Keep in mind I said 70s! The one thing I'd add to your list is Quaaludes! LOL....

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All of this strikes a note with me too. My list is similar to what was posted. However, I would note that we did not know everything going on in the world as easily as we do today. I’m quite sure it was no Utopia back then. Newspapers had editors that didn’t print the lurid and exploitive so-called “news” we are bombarded with today. I also remember the Vietnam war, protests, and all the equal rights issues of the day. We have always lived in a country where we could speak up, and speak out. Sometimes it gets messy. We live in an especially messy time now. The problems seem bigger today than the ones we remember, but we were children.
Each generation has it’s “good old days” from a child’s perspective.
I don’t mean to preach. Be good to each other. My grandchildren go forward in this world, and I see such promise in them.

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Thing is the children of today do not have the remembrances we have of the past and everything will be new to them and then as they grow older will remember their pasts as we do.

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@covidstinks2023
I loved your list! Just what the doctor ordered today! Your list brought back so many wonderful memories and I have added some here:

Going for a Sunday drive in the countryside

Randomly passing a “Big Slide” near big cities and stopping to race down them a few times while sitting on burlap to go faster

E-ticket rides at Disneyland

Pong video game at the pizza parlor

My best friend and I riding our horses together through the trails in the hills and feeling safe starting at 13 years old.

Kids delivering newspapers

The ice cream truck and the doughnut truck driving through the neighborhood. Yum!

Family watching the Disney Sunday night movie together

Having a tomato fight with my brother in the backyard and the next spring we had 100 tomato plants growing all over the yard. Best way to plant ever! Delicious!

Slumber parties – stay awake or you’ll be on the wrong end of a prank

Selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door because it was safe

Having a Kool-Aid stand out on the curb without needing a permit

YMCA camp at Lake Sequoia – nature hikes, friends as my cabin-mates, team spirit, boating, swimming, crafts, archery, campfires with s’mores and singing. It was the best!

Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Adam 12, Gilligan’s Island and ABC after school specials

Family together watching the Rams play on Sunday. Go Roman Gabriel!

Crushing on Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman …and they called it puppy love!

Bell bottoms and tie dye t-shirts

Stopping at Thrifty drug store with 25 cents to fill a bag with nickel and penny candies for the double feature at the 50-cent movie theater with sticky floors and gum stuck to everything! First cartoons (miss you Chilly Willy), then a movie, then intermission with prizes and a serial, then another movie.

Air Blasters! My brothers and I each had a fun 8” pump up air blaster with a 3” in diameter barrel so if you hit the other person from 10 feet away their hair would fly all over! It was like air tag! Very fun and funny! The dog was a good sport too!

Had a stay-at-home mom for many years so she did everything for us, room mother, great home cooked meals including a hot breakfast every day, running in with punch and homemade cookies when I had a friend over, homemade clothes – you name it!

Having an older brother who taught me to do everything he liked to do so he’d always have someone to play with and practice with – building stuff with his erector set, looking at stuff under the microscope, playing catch with the baseball, detailing our parents’ cars, lots of board games, catching tadpoles at the creek and watching them become frogs, etc. Great influence!

All the kids skating together in the neighborhood

The original Jarts with metal tips, croquet, backyard badminton, hoolahoops, hoppity hops, pogo sticks and a slinky

Pixie sticks, edible candy necklaces, bubblegum cigarettes and Nestles Quick

Oh, yes, the good old days are forever in our hearts! Thanks for inviting our memories to come out and play today! 😊

REPLY
@lacy2

Hi... no , no more jigsaw puzzles... but I will tell you what a brat I was. Yep, while Mum and brother doing a jigsaw I took a piece and waited til they were finished; am almost too ashamed to confess. She didnt get mad at me at all... now with some eye issues and Ipad, no longer do them but my one adult daughter does... loves theml Yes my sister in law 85 2 days ago and today wedding anniversary but my brother passed away 2017. Had a sore on head and the rest is as you can imagine, a year long battle with cancer. She looked after him at home with nurse visit every single day to change dressing until about a week before he passed. The had 2 boys and one died Christmas Day 2013 age 45 the other drops by to see she is ok every morning..... At one time she had the family of four; my elderly Mum moved in; and she looked after grand-child - now alone.... never learned to drive. I agree, younger neighbours barely wave... but when I was their age I wonder if I did the same to my elderly neighbours....... if we could only have another stab at "Life."

Jump to this post

@lacy2 you and my brother were two peas in pod. He was our sneaky holder of the "missing" puzzle piece. Haha

REPLY
@californiazebra

@covidstinks2023
I loved your list! Just what the doctor ordered today! Your list brought back so many wonderful memories and I have added some here:

Going for a Sunday drive in the countryside

Randomly passing a “Big Slide” near big cities and stopping to race down them a few times while sitting on burlap to go faster

E-ticket rides at Disneyland

Pong video game at the pizza parlor

My best friend and I riding our horses together through the trails in the hills and feeling safe starting at 13 years old.

Kids delivering newspapers

The ice cream truck and the doughnut truck driving through the neighborhood. Yum!

Family watching the Disney Sunday night movie together

Having a tomato fight with my brother in the backyard and the next spring we had 100 tomato plants growing all over the yard. Best way to plant ever! Delicious!

Slumber parties – stay awake or you’ll be on the wrong end of a prank

Selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door because it was safe

Having a Kool-Aid stand out on the curb without needing a permit

YMCA camp at Lake Sequoia – nature hikes, friends as my cabin-mates, team spirit, boating, swimming, crafts, archery, campfires with s’mores and singing. It was the best!

Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Adam 12, Gilligan’s Island and ABC after school specials

Family together watching the Rams play on Sunday. Go Roman Gabriel!

Crushing on Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman …and they called it puppy love!

Bell bottoms and tie dye t-shirts

Stopping at Thrifty drug store with 25 cents to fill a bag with nickel and penny candies for the double feature at the 50-cent movie theater with sticky floors and gum stuck to everything! First cartoons (miss you Chilly Willy), then a movie, then intermission with prizes and a serial, then another movie.

Air Blasters! My brothers and I each had a fun 8” pump up air blaster with a 3” in diameter barrel so if you hit the other person from 10 feet away their hair would fly all over! It was like air tag! Very fun and funny! The dog was a good sport too!

Had a stay-at-home mom for many years so she did everything for us, room mother, great home cooked meals including a hot breakfast every day, running in with punch and homemade cookies when I had a friend over, homemade clothes – you name it!

Having an older brother who taught me to do everything he liked to do so he’d always have someone to play with and practice with – building stuff with his erector set, looking at stuff under the microscope, playing catch with the baseball, detailing our parents’ cars, lots of board games, catching tadpoles at the creek and watching them become frogs, etc. Great influence!

All the kids skating together in the neighborhood

The original Jarts with metal tips, croquet, backyard badminton, hoolahoops, hoppity hops, pogo sticks and a slinky

Pixie sticks, edible candy necklaces, bubblegum cigarettes and Nestles Quick

Oh, yes, the good old days are forever in our hearts! Thanks for inviting our memories to come out and play today! 😊

Jump to this post

Loved these! Thank you! Blessings....

REPLY
@californiazebra

@lacy2 you and my brother were two peas in pod. He was our sneaky holder of the "missing" puzzle piece. Haha

Jump to this post

..@zebra ..... oh thanks for that, i thought maybe was only horrid child in the universe! lol

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...our family talking about that - middle income? - have way too much "stuff" really... realize it too as now older an dont cook and think i hve 5 different roast pans different sizes - you only need one: a big one which will take any size, lol ... and 3 tvs - although small one in my bedroom gift from children; one in living room, one in basement... and the list goes on. then we complain about hydro bill, heating bill etc. no expensive jewellery etc,, just many things we could live without... and now when buy something have to register it on line read a 50page manual... etc etc.... overkill

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