Maineiac

Close your eyes...
And go back in time...
Before the Internet or the Mac
Before semi-automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo

Way back...
I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk
Red light, green light
The corner store
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, jacks, kickball, dodgeball, Mother May I? Red Rover and Roly Poly Hula Hoops
Running through the sprinkler!
The smell of the sun and licking salty lips
Wax lips and mustaches
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night...chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan

Wait...
Watching Saturday Morning cartoons...short commercials, Fat Albert, Road Runner, He-Man, The Three Stooges, and Bugs
Or staying up for Gunsmoke
When around the corner seemed far away
And going downtown seemed like going somewhere
A million mosquito bites
Sticky fingers
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Zorro
Climbing trees
Building igloos out of snow banks
Walking to school, no matter what the weather
Running till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Jumping on the bed
Pillow fights
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles
Being tired from playing...
Remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team
War was a card game
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle

I'm not finished just yet...
Eating Kool-aid powder and making Kool-aid ice pops

Remember when...
There were two types of sneakers - girls and boys (Keds PF Flyers)! and the only time you wore them at school, was for "gym"
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends
When nobody owned a purebred dog
When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a miracle
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to real restaurant with your parents
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then
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 they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed and did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared fate that awaited a misbehaving student 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 them!!!
Didn't that feel good. Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

Remember when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny- meeny- miney- mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot
Nobody was prettier than Mom
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin
Ice cream was considered a basic food group
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!