Back when I was a kid was trending recently and I had too many things to tweet. (I know odd, me, not filling up the timeline, who knew?) I honestly do not know what has happened to the last 25 years. I’m approaching a major age milestone but I still feel like I’m no more than 18. But the truth of the matter is I was born in 1973 so I think I’m a GenXer and although I didn’t have to walk uphills in the snow both way while carrying my brothers, some things have changed.
Here’s some things that came to mind:
Back when I was a kid…
1. I could not wait to get to school.
It’s a foreign concept to me for my kids to hate school. I loved school, I loved playing school, I eventually became a teacher and now spend may too much money at Office Max on yellow legal pads, post-its, and smelly markers.
2. I spent most of my time outside, sunshine, rain, cold, it didn’t matter.
I wasn’t allowed to watch too much tv. I loved to climb trees, ride my bike, and shoot baskets. I would read up in our tulip tree and watch the ants file by while weaving necklaces out of clover. I burned myself to a crisp at the lake and the pool while eating Chico Stix. Most summer nights found me racing home before the street lights and mosquito spraying man came.
3. My friends and I played stupid games.
In my neighbor’s back yard we stole a 6 foot sheet of plywood from the construction site in our subdivision. We would stand on either side of it and chunk pieces of concrete at each other. The object of the game was to guess where the concrete was going to fall and dunk just in time. My brother and I ended up on a first name basis at the urgent care clinic.
4. I made what I needed or wanted to have.
If I needed cape, I took a pillowcase. If I needed to make a factory, I turned my Desert Cactus yellow banana seat bike upside down and wa la! There was a gears. If I needed a magic concoction, a few of my mother’s rose petals, some Tropical fruit punch and a dash of glitter did the job. If I wanted a library, I wrote inside the cover of every book I owned the checkout list. If I needed to get rid of a brother, well… some things start to escape my memory. I had lots of fundraisers for different causes. I once had a lemonade stand to help fund The Statue of Liberty renovations.
5. Things tasted richer then
I remember apples have veins of red sweetness in them and popsicles being loaded with real sugar. I couldn’t stand tomatoes and onions because they were too strong but now I eat them all day long. I remember oranges dripping with juice but now it seems like they’re all dehydrated under the skin. Drinking cold milk from a tin cup was a creamy treat. Now everything tastes watered down and fake.
I’ll save the rest of my stories to bore my kiddos to death but I’m curious about some of things you remember back when you were a kid.
The Rabid Mime 