Good Ol Days

I "borrowed" this from Barb over at Confessions of an Angel Waitress

Where I Come From…….

Where I come from the times were special and the neighbors were more like family members than acquaintances. I spent my days casually playing under bushes. We pretended they were forts. Other times I could be found up in a tree, just climbing or hanging around…literally.

Once Spring arrived we would enjoy "sour grass" (I still do to this day!) and while chomping on this we’d lay back in the grass and watch the clouds float by. They always made us feel like we were moving too. We made pea-shooters out of cane poles and I had a swing tied way up in a tree branch. Crickets would sing us to sleep at night through opened, screened windows.

Saturday’s in the Summer were spent at the beach. Sunday’s it was always off to church and then home to Nanny’s cooking. It was a nice, lazy day, which usually brought over some extra family members. They would eat and "set a spell" on the porch in a rocking chair or in folding lounge chairs out in the yard. Kids would be running around while the adults sat around drinking tea and eating cake or pie or both. A special surprise would sometimes show up and we’d get a visit from a favorite aunt or uncle from afar.

I was the first baby born on our street in a very long time. I was anxiously awaited for and when I arrived in July I was told it was as if it were Christmas in our neighborhood. Almost every neighbor attended the same church we did, except for one family. Nevertheless, we all got along great and kept our eyes out for each other. Our doors and windows were never locked. I roamed freely in the woods and up and down the street. Never a fear of abduction or getting lost and we could always hear when someone yelled out our name to "come home".

Where I come from, we had respect for each other…..lived by the Golden Rule. I have been sent out to "get a switch" when I’d done something wrong. Got spanked in school and once again when we got home for getting in trouble at school. Feared and revered our elders.Cracker Jack’s had real prizes.

In our neck of the woods, mud pies were made by the side of the road in a puddle. Tadpoles were caught in the ditch and kept in a mason jar….till they died usually. We chased fireflies and kept them in a mason jar too. (Mason jars were very versatile but we were not allowed to drink from them….they were for "puttin up" string beans.) We drank ice cold soda from a glass bottle and there was a bottle opener permanently nailed to the window sill.

Those were the good ol days.