Nostalgia

**** NOSTALGIC MEMORIES****


Close your eyes...And go back...
.Before the Internet or PC or the MAC......
....Before semi-automatics and crack....
.Before Play station, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari...
....Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail....
....way back....
....way.....way.....way back.....

I'm talkin' bout hide and seek at dusk
Red light, Green light
Red Rover....Red Rover.....
Playing kickball & dodge ball until the
first...no...second...no...third
streetlight came on

Ring around the Rosie
London Bridge
Hot potato
Hop Scotch
Jump rope
Duck....duck....GOOSE!!!
YOU'RE IT!!
Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you
to come home -

no pagers or cell phones

Mother May I?
Hula Hoops
Seeing shapes in the clouds
Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the windows open
The sound of crickets
Running through the sprinkler
Happy Meals
Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize in the bottom
Cracker jacks with the same thing
Ice pops with 2 sticks you could break and share with a friend

...but wait.....there's more....

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons
Fat Albert, Road Runner, Smurfs, Picture Pages, G-Force & He-Man,
Schoolhouse Rock Watchin' Sunday morning oldies (Abbott & Costello, Three Stooges) Wonder Woman & Super Man Underoos
FONZIE.....AYYYYYYYY
Playing Dukes of Hazard
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning
Your first day of school
Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses
Climbing trees
Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky
Getting an Ice Cream off the Good Humor Truck
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin' down the steps
Jumpin' on the bed
Pillow fights
Sleep overs
A 13" black and white TV in your room meant you were RICH
Runnin' till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from PLAYING
WORK: meant taking out the garbage or doing the dishes
Your first crush
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth CLOSED and your eyes OPEN)

Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7UP" or
"hangman"
in the classroom, Remember that?

Oh, I'm not finished yet....

Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer
So was a swig from the hose
Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school
Class Field Trips with soggy sandwiches
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a
MIRACLE When ANY parent could discipline ANY kid, or feed him, or use him to carry Groceries... And nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When your parents took you to McDonalds and you were COOL
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of em!

Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!"
Well, let's keep going!!
Let's go back to the time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "monopoly"
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old, referred to anyone over 20. (CRAP! I'm officially old!)


The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
Nobody was prettier than Mom
Scrapes and bruises were kissed by mom or grandma and made better
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discoverd because of a "double-dog-dare"
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.
Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your fiercest protector

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life......

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!!!!



"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." Matthew 21:22

Funny; my kids at 14 and 11 MUST let me know which of their friends have cell phones. Like I care, I think to myself. I'm sure if we budgeted, we could afford them the phones. But it's not the point. Really. To me, right now, I don't believe they are a necessity for them. They are not out of my arms reach for any real stretch of time. Nor are they too far from a phone, you know, the type where they'd need to deposit an actual coin. Dare I make them. Abusive arent' I?? They always manage to make the call they need to, whether from a friend's home, or from the school phone etc. Yes, the school does allow for the children to call home. Amazing isn't it!

We also do not own those fun and yet brainless (ok, this is my page and opinion) systems like XBox, and the rest of them. They seem to do quite well without them. Seriously. They enjoy, like we did, running outside with the other kids, and building forts out back in the woods. Mind you, the "woods" is the line of trees butted from my yard to the neighbors yard, and we can all clearly see the kids and hear them. So there is no danger involved, thankfully. But they are using - get this - their BRAINS!! And their hands, and their legs. Running, playing and having fun. outside. All of them. From ages 6 - 14. Sometimes the six year old comes home crying because he gets left out, but that's all a part of it.

The neighborhood behind us is a cul-de-sac; and we live on a busy street, so this is the ideal situation for play for all adults. For the kids involved. Ok, NOT the busy street!! Between us, is the hill, in which they get to sled on when we have snow. Like today. It's not too big, but when we Mom's and Dad's don't really want to go up the road to the big hill, it's perfect. All of the kids can meet out back, and sled.

When we first bought the house, the kids were a little bummed. We were in the ideal neighborhood! Safe, fun, family-filled stereo-typed place. They could pretty much come and go as they pleased. Everyone looked out for each other. We came here, to a busy street, knowing no kids. Boom! Little by little, the fun began. They each have someone to play with. Still, I'll never let my gaurd down completely; it is, afterall, an unsafe world we live in. Children don't go home to their parents, unfortunately. People have cruel and evil intentions.

If we go a minute longer than necessary without hearing from our children, we just freak out. If they hide better than they should, or play where they shouldn't, without letting us know, something takes over us. Something primal. Like instinct. We see red. Dare anyone who intends harm to them near us at that moment. When we find them, thanfully, unharmed and they are trying to explain themselves; we do not hear them. We are just moving fast and furious to the place of safety. For the primal mode has been violated. They are too young to understand that part of it.

And this is really where I was going with my statement today: I was watching good old GMA this morning, and this jerk Psychologist was deciding what a great (right) idea it would be to ban spanking! OK. And make it a LAW, of course, to throw parent spankers in jail, and call them, oh yeah, now I'm getting boiled - abusive!! Now, I'm becoming primal in a whole new way.

Spare the rod, spoil the child!! Let's take a little walk down memory lane, shall we?! Can we just look at the last generation and see where we're going before we make this a freaking law!! What are these idiots thinking? I mean, yes, I believe there are people who do NOT understand the difference between a spank and all out abuse, but now we as parents are going to be seen as oh, what?? just wondering......

I came from a generation of spanking. As a matter of fact, I can remember getting off the school bus, going to the principal's office and getting a good old fashioned 'rod of correction' applied to the 'seat of learning' for causing a scene. I didn't want to go. To school. I think it was first grade. The principal's office was nothing compared to the fear that awaited at home. I do remember as the day went on, my fate. My father, and the sound of his belt. That sound alone, would straighten me. I remember him saying, "This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you." I surely didn't understand what those words meant.

Until I applied the "Rod of Correction" myself to the "Seat of Learning" to my own children. I never used a belt, like my father did. But I did actually have a rod. Marisa laughs as she remembers the rod. I'd probably land my butt in jail now. But amazingly, so far, she hasn't. Could it be, that it's because I applied a little direction? Perhaps. Or because it wasn't used in a fit of anger and/or rage. But in stern and loving discipline. Someone please call child services!

I see the differences in my friend's children; those that do and do not use the rod. What a difference in who runs the house. And the future of who will run our nation. Now that is what scares me. An undisciplined generation, who cannot control themselves. Who willfully control their parents, teachers, and society. Aahhhh, Generation Next. You be the judge.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and we will use the rod of correction when needed. With love, not anger. So there you have it.

Anyone for Kick-the-can??