An Age Barometer: 01. Blackjack chewing gum 02. Wax candy soda bottles, lips & mustaches 03. Candy cigarettes 04. Soda machines that dispensed bottles 05. Diners with tableside jukeboxes 06. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers 07. Party lines 08. Telephone numbers with a word prefix.. Beechwood 4-5789 09. PF Flyers and Keds 10. Butch wax 11. Newsreels before the movie 12. Peashooters 13. Howdy Doody 14. 45 RPM records 15. S&H Green Stamps and Plaid Stamps 16. Hi-fi's 17. Metal ice trays with levers 18. Mimeograph paper 19. Blue flashbulbs 20. Crusader Rabbit & Rags the Tiger 21. Roller skate keys 22. Cork popguns 23. Drive-ins 24. Studebakers 25. Wash tub wringers If you remembered 0-5... you're still young. If you remembered 6-10... you're getting older. If you remembered 11-15... don't tell your age. If you remembered 16-25... you're older than dirt. Boy the Bear's Age Gauge Let's go back.. way back... I'm talkin' 'bout when around the corner seemed far away, and goin' downtown seemed like goin' somewhere... when a quarter was a decent allowance and another quarter a miracle.. when you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny... when SPAM was nothing more than a canned meat (?) product... remember sittin' on the curb and hangin' out on the stoop.. runnin' through the sprinkler.. climbin' trees and makin' forts.. hayrides and pony rides.. backyard shows and lemonade stands... remember Go Fish and Old Maid.. cops and robbers.. cowboys and indians.. playin' baseball on an empty corner lot.. Simon Says, Red Light-Green Light and Hide & Go Seek.. Chinese jumpropes and doubledutch.. hopscotch and jacks and capguns.. kickball and stickball.. not steppin' on a crack or you'd break your mother's back and hula hoops... remember pumpkin seeds and penny candy from the corner store.. a cherry coke or an egg cream from the township fountain.. the ice cream man and that ice cream cone on a warm summer night.. chocolate or vanilla or strawberry, with sprinkles... remember watchin' Saturday morning cartoons, The Mickey Mouse Club, Miss Francis & Ding Dong School, Kukla, Fran & Ollie and Winky Dink, all in black & white.. and when it took five minutes for the TV set to warm up... remember lyin' in the grass and lookin' up at the sky and seein' things in the clouds.. pillow fights and jumpin' on the bed.. bein' tired from playin'.. bein' tickled to death and runnin' 'til you were out of breath.. laughin' so hard that your stomach hurt.. lickin' sticky fingers and salty lips.. a million mosquito bites.. and catchin' lightning bugs in a jar... remember when all of your male teachers wore neckties and your female teachers had their hair done, everyday, and wore high heels.. crowding around in a circle for the 'after school fight' and then running when the teacher came.. the girl with the big bubbly handwriting who dotted her "i's" with hearts.. Dick & Jane readers.. the smell and the taste of school paste.. and silhouettes of Cupid and Lincoln and Washington... remember penny loafers and saddle shoes and when the only time you wore sneakers to school was for gym.. and metal lunch boxes with a thermos that broke... remember 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 to the fate that awaited a misbehavin' student at home.. and the worst thing you could do at school was to cut class or get caught smokin' in the bathroom or chewin' gum... remember when the prom was in the gym.. when people went steady and girls wore a class ring on a chain around their neck or on their finger with an inch of yarn wrapped around it so it would fit.. when "good" girls neither dated nor kissed until high school, and no one would even talk about what "nice" girls did.. and drive-in movies... remember eight-track tape decks and when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car to cruise the strip, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races... remember when laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box and stuff from the market came without safety caps and hermetic seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.. when the doors to your house were never locked.. when no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in the car, in the ignition.. and when you went to the gas station, you got your windshield cleaned and your oil checked, without askin', every time... remember bein' on your best behavior 'cause you were gettin' company.. dressin' up for church.. tinsel and paper chains on the Christmas tree... remember when nobody owned a purebred dog.. 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 it was considered a privilege to be taken out to dinner to a real restaurant with your parents and when you went out for pizza and when chicken and potato chips were delivered... remember when your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.. when nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school.. lickin' the beaters when your Mom made a cake and the smell and taste of hot, homemade bread with butter... Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!" Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate.. one who still remembers Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, The Lone Ranger & Tonto, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Sky King & Penny, the sound of a rotary mower on Saturday morning and summers filled with bike rides, treasure hunts, swimmin' and Kool-Aid. I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE TIME 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." Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening. It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Being old referred to anyone over 20. The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and rules didn't matter. The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties". It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb. 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 & bruises were kissed & made better. It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park. A foot of snow was a dream come true. Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures. No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home. "Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense. Spinning around, getting dizzy & falling down was cause for giggles. 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. Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin. Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors. Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life... I DOUBLE-DOG DARE YA! "the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and young enough not to care" page inspired by george feher '64 authors unknown ~ text tweaked by me.. :) "beechwood 4-5789" sequenced by ron tilden <bgsound src="http://www.d21c.com/nerak/midi/rememberthen.mid">