A friend sent me an email that I really like and so I reproduce most of it here:
Subject: Can you remember this?
"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked
every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together
at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my
plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it." ....
"Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a
golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In
their later years they had something called a revolving charge card.
The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND
Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died. "....
"My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly
because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed
probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a
television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one
before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a
piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was
blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The
middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of
fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day.(Uncle Herm bought one of these) Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look
larger. "(I almost bought one of them)
"I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie."
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese
slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned
that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had."
"piazzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was. "
"All newspapers were delivered by boys .
"Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French
kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they
did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't
allowed to see them. "
"If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing. "
"Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it? "
"How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. "
Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the
ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum (no)
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water (Yes)
3. Candy cigarettes (yes)
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles (yes)
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes (yes)
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers (yes)
7. Party lines (yes)
8. Newsreels before the movie (yes)
! 9. P.F. Flyers (yes)
10. Butch wax ( I loved butch wax)
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933) (yes)
12. Peashooters (yes)
13. Howdy Doody (yes.....I loved Howdy Doody)
14. 45 RPM records (yes)
15. S&H Green Stamps (yes)
16 Hi-fi's (yes)
17 Metal ice trays with lever (yes)
18. Mimeograph paper (yes)
19 Blue flashbulb (yes)
20. Packards (Yes)
21. Roller skate keys (yes)
22. Cork popguns (yes)
23. Drive-ins (yes see posts below)
24. Studebakers (yes... my mom had one)
25. Wash tub wringers (yes...my dad sold them)
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16 -25 = You're older than dirt!
"I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best
parts of my life. "
