I remember going out the window once when the parents came home early, Judy T went on to marry Peter A.
I remember going out the window when a tough 26 year old biker showed up at the house where an 18 year old Finn was living with said biker’s 25 year old ex-GF with whom he had a child. The irony is that while I never married her and they never got back together,we all became good friends.
I got out of the service (USAF) in late '68 gas in Abilene,Tex.was .14/gal. I could rent a Cessna 150 for $16/hr,aPiper Colt for $14/hr.,and a Cessna210 for $22/hr. My new Olds Cutlass cost $2700. loaded.
Love to hear the stories they were the good old days being old now, I remember Big black and white tv’s, test pattern, Captain Kangaroo, Foreman Scotty, Claymation, AM radio, Bell telephones, party lines, 6 volt batteries, route 66, phonographs, 78/45 rpm, sonic booms, M80, cherry bombs, pop bottle rockets, tricycles, bicycles, horny toads, the pony farm, flat tops, drive ins, Dairy Queen, Jolly Cone, Drug store with soda fountain, mumps, chicken pox, measles, toy soldiers, silly putty, Lincoln logs, WWIII, duck and cover in school, Silver dollars, quarters, dimes. This was my adolescent my imagination was the things I dream of. Knowing the 20th century and all the good the bad and the very ugly. I wonder if the 21st Century will be any better or just more of the same. It was the Best of times and the Worse of time.
Golly, yes. I’d forgotten about 6-volt batteries. The only use for one I ever found was those old hand lanterns (the bulb was about the size of a car’s headlight) the “could be seen from a mile away!” according to their ads. Don’t forget crystal radios. Listening to one through a headset under the blankets in the dark was fun, and there was this young new guy named Larry King in the middle of the night…
Pump the brakes was the maxim!
Alan, I’m guessing we are around the same age - I was in the first wave of the baby boom… I’ve only had two bottles of Coca-Cola in my entire life, lol, having been a “Pepsi guy”… Never saw a day when 50 cents would go that far in my world - 'course I never had 50 cents then anyway, so lol…
Thank you for your service!, btw, My Mom made me promise not to go into the Marines when my friend Tommy F. did that - we went to 'Nam around the same time though, I in the Air Force…
We share a lot of the same memories…
Some of mine:
I had two friends named Ira, we are all still on this side of the grass, but I haven’t seen them in over 50 years… Have never met another Ira since… lol…
I was a good student in grade school, but fell in with the ‘hoodlums’ in high school - lol…
Wound up not becoming a full-grown Adult until was about 52 years old… lol…
Eventually went to college, and as Mom would say “amounted to something”… lol…
I was always a big fan of Davey, Davey Crockett!!! King of the Wild Frontier!!! …
Life’s been good, hoping for another “72” … lol… We’ll see about that!!! :>))) …
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“Welcome Home”, Hal… I also came home from the USAF in late '68… Did a tour (18 months) in Italy (San Vito A/S), and one in Nam (Pleiku AB)…
Staying on the plus side of the grass is still appealing to me, too. WS, you may have a few months on me, but at this point, that’s close enough for most purposes.
Almost every town had at least one Boy Scout troop and half a dozen Cub Scout dens. Senior Boy Scouts (kids of 14 to 16) would lead us on hikes.
Almost everybody went fishing and hunting. The 6th, 7th, and 8th graders could bring their shotguns to school in the morning, lock them in the principal’s office–next to his shotgun–and hunt on the walk home. This was in north-central NJ. Nobody got excited about it, it was “normal.”
Once, a writer came to address our class. We KNEW he was an eccentric–he had a mustache and smoked a pipe.
Welcome home to all our brothers and sisters who visited Southeast Asia in those days.
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Thanks much for the “Welcome Home”, we didn’t get that the first time
around, and it’s really nice to hear nowadays…
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I got two things outta that. (sorry I’m internally focused) life was better when we were young (duh) and that I am truly appreciative of what hero’s have done to keep my family safe. I’m the first generation to have escaped the horrors of war. hopefully my son is the second.
I do not forget that the rest of you have provided me that luxury!
THANK YOU!
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I think everyone welcomes the blessings of peace, though it often comes at a steep price. May your children be graced with that opportunity.
On the subject of the past, I wouldn’t go as far as saying “we had it better in the old days.” The advances in medicine alone–which have kept me, among countless others, alive–put the lie to that. Say instead, “it was very different then.” Whether it was better or not won’t be known until the last card is dealt, the final bet has been called, and the pot is raked in. But, if we don’t remember where we were, we’ll never know if we’ve made any headway.
Good luck.
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