REMEMBERING CHILDHOOD DAYS

 by Danna Shirley

I saw a magazine titled “Good*Old*Days” and it reminded me of my own good-old-days childhood. I thought I would rack my 76-year-old brain to recall some of those precious memories of:

·          Drawing a hop scotch with chalk in the driveway and playing with my “taw” made up of chains hooked together.

·       Playing tether ball in the backyard where Dad had poured cement into a tire to hold the pole up.

·       Playing jacks on the kitchen floor and trying to go “around the world” before catching the ball. I had them in a leather pouch I bought on one of our many family trips from CA to AR and OK, stopping at an Indian Trading Post on Route 66. No interstates in the 50s and 60s. I still have that pouch but the ball doesn’t bounce anymore. 😊

·       Lying out on the hot pavement in the summertime looking at the stars and trying to figure out shapes and animals.

·       Making mudpies in the backyard.

·       Running through the sprinkler on hot days.

·       Jumping rope.

·       Riding my bike.

·       Sliding down the grassy hill on a piece of cardboard at the top of my street.

·       Dolls: paper dolls, drawing my own fashionable outfits, coloring them, cutting them out.

·       Dolls: playing house, dressing up my dolls; Barbie came along much later for my own daughter

·       Paint-by-number pictures.

·       Learning to embroider. My first efforts didn’t turn out so well.

·       Playing “Go Fish” and “War” and as I got older, “Canasta” with my sisters.

·       My favorite toy was a monkey

·       Playing school down in the basement where my dad had lined one wall of the garage with blackboards.

·       Watching cartoons: Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Road Runner, etc.

·       Westerns: my favorite was Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and the Sons of the Pioneers

·       The early sitcoms: Dobie Gillis, Ozzie & Harriet, Gilligan’s Island, Hazel (I wished we had a Hazel in our lives)

·       We had milk delivered to our house and he had a key to get in and put it right in the refrigerator.

·       Helping my dad do chores around the house. I was his little helper.

·       We got new dresses, hats, gloves, purse, and frilly socks to wear to church every Easter.

·       Making chocolate chip cookies and eating more of the dough that the cookies.

·       Cheerios is still my favorite cereal.

·       Vacations: my mom was a school teacher so she always incorporated educational trips to various places: Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Carlsbad Caverns, Meteor Crater, Niagara Falls, Smithsonian, Independence Hall, Plymouth Rock, the Liberty Bell, and many more over my years of living at home.

I guess I did a good job of racking my brain. What are your childhood memories? Why don’t you plan a trip or two for your family to enjoy America right in your own backyard?