From time to time I get emails that talk about things in the past and "Do you remember, etc." I enjoy reading them and remembering my childhood experiences. I read one today that jogged my memory and I decided to write down some of my early memories (before I forget them!).
About the only high tech thing I remember from the past was our battery operated radio! There were no portable radios or boom boxes in those days. This was before the internet, cell phones, CD's, DVD's, e-mail. It was even before electricity in our home, or air conditioners, refrigerators, electric irons - so many of those modern applicances.
We played outdoor games. Like hide and seek or going to the mill - playing in the front yard at dusk while our parents rested on the front porch. Then when it started getting dark, we would catch "lightning bugs" and put them in a jar with a lid and would take them to bed with us to see if they would light up the room. Out in the country there were no street lights to light up the sky and we enjoyed looking at the stars and finding the milky way and other constellations. It was so exciting to see shooting stars.
At school we would go outside at recess (morning and afternoon) and at lunchtime, and play games such as London bridge, hop scotch, jump rope, hot potato. Mother, May I?, Bum, bum, bum, Here I come, jacks, dodge ball, kick the can, and many more. I remember a game called "freeze". You were slung about and then when you were turned loose, you had to freeze in the position you stopped. We would also spin around until we got dizzy and fell down laughing because we were "drunk". We played these games at home when friends would come to visit.
We would save string from the fertilizer (guano) sacks in the spring and wrap a small rubber jack's ball, until the ball was large enough to use for a baseball. We also had a ball of this string to use to fly homemade kites, made from greased brown paper (to make it strong). I always wanted to make a long tail with pretty bows tied to it so you could see it sailing in the sky behind my kite.
Summer days seemed so long and we would be so tired at night (from playing so hard); and it would be too hot to go to bed early. We would open the windows and listen to the crickets outside or owls and other night critters. It was always damp and cool early in the morning, but this didn't last long after the sun came up.
We would buy penny candy from the rolling store and some of my favorites were peanut butter and banana flavored little square candies called "Kits", dum-dum suckers, peanut butter bars, BBats suckers, Jack's cookies, and many more. I loved to buy Cracker Jack to see what the prize would be in the bottom of the box.
I remember the first day of school was always so exciting. My feet always hurt from wearing my new shoes (I went barefoot most of the summer). I remembering wanting to wear a new dress on the first day of school and usually it was too hot, but I would wear it anyway. We weren't allowed to wear shorts or pants to school.
Other memories include climbing trees and I was never a good climber. Once I climbed my Uncle Clem's ladder to the top of the windmill and sat there and cried until he came home to help me down. I still don't like heights. I get dizzy when I look down below.
I remember swinging as high as I could go and try to reach the sky. Friends would push each other until the swing was going very high, and then they would run underneath the swing.
We would swing from vines in the woods, pretending to be Tarzan.
Rainy days meant we would have to play on the porch or in our bedrooms. We would put on plays, or play with our paperdolls we cut out of the Sears catalog. Or play school, and since I was the oldest, I was usually the teacher. When the weather was nice outside, we loved to make playhouses, using boards, etc. to outline the rooms of the houses. We sometimes got into trouble when we used eggs in our mud cakes. I am pictured here with younger sisters Chris and Sue. Notice the bandage on my left hand. I almost cut my finger off with an ax, driving stakes for our play house. Mama Smith put coal oil on the wound and wrapped it tight with some clean white cloth. I have a scar on my left index finger from this mishap.
If someone had a bike, they would give their friend a ride on the handlebars. I remember my first bike when I was in the 6th grade. I had "wheels" and could go places and not have to walk.
I remember going to Bible School every summer and we always had Kool Aid to drink. We didn't have this at home very often so it was a special treat.
When we were in fear for our lives, it wasn't because of drugs, gangs, shootings, etc. We just didn't want our parents to be mad with us. I always wanted to please my parents and tried not to disobey them.
We made decisions by counting out "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" - there's more to this rhyme that we used to say but I don't use that word anymore!
I remember in the summer when I was a teen ager, we would go to "singing schools", staying all day for a week or two at each school we attended. Our teacher, Mr. McKinney, was very strict and you didn't misbehave. We would sing gospel songs and take turns leading the singing. I wasn't very good at being a song leader. I love lunch time when we sat around eating our lunches we brought from home. They sat all morning inside the building and were soggy. I still like soggy tomato sandwiches which were my favorite, with salt and black pepper on the tomato. I guess we had water to drink. I don't remember having soft drinks. And there was always a piece of homemade cake or cookies with our lunch. Sometimes we would have a banana or pineapple sandwich.
This is enough "remembering" for one day. Times were simpler in those days but I really wouldn't want to trade them for more modern times. I love my central heat and air, electric applicances, hot water, refrigerator and car! I even learned to use a computer in my old age and digital camera. I don't care much for today's music and haven't asked for any devices to download music to listen to while I am out walking
About the only high tech thing I remember from the past was our battery operated radio! There were no portable radios or boom boxes in those days. This was before the internet, cell phones, CD's, DVD's, e-mail. It was even before electricity in our home, or air conditioners, refrigerators, electric irons - so many of those modern applicances.
We played outdoor games. Like hide and seek or going to the mill - playing in the front yard at dusk while our parents rested on the front porch. Then when it started getting dark, we would catch "lightning bugs" and put them in a jar with a lid and would take them to bed with us to see if they would light up the room. Out in the country there were no street lights to light up the sky and we enjoyed looking at the stars and finding the milky way and other constellations. It was so exciting to see shooting stars.
At school we would go outside at recess (morning and afternoon) and at lunchtime, and play games such as London bridge, hop scotch, jump rope, hot potato. Mother, May I?, Bum, bum, bum, Here I come, jacks, dodge ball, kick the can, and many more. I remember a game called "freeze". You were slung about and then when you were turned loose, you had to freeze in the position you stopped. We would also spin around until we got dizzy and fell down laughing because we were "drunk". We played these games at home when friends would come to visit.
We would save string from the fertilizer (guano) sacks in the spring and wrap a small rubber jack's ball, until the ball was large enough to use for a baseball. We also had a ball of this string to use to fly homemade kites, made from greased brown paper (to make it strong). I always wanted to make a long tail with pretty bows tied to it so you could see it sailing in the sky behind my kite.
Summer days seemed so long and we would be so tired at night (from playing so hard); and it would be too hot to go to bed early. We would open the windows and listen to the crickets outside or owls and other night critters. It was always damp and cool early in the morning, but this didn't last long after the sun came up.
We would buy penny candy from the rolling store and some of my favorites were peanut butter and banana flavored little square candies called "Kits", dum-dum suckers, peanut butter bars, BBats suckers, Jack's cookies, and many more. I loved to buy Cracker Jack to see what the prize would be in the bottom of the box.
I remember the first day of school was always so exciting. My feet always hurt from wearing my new shoes (I went barefoot most of the summer). I remembering wanting to wear a new dress on the first day of school and usually it was too hot, but I would wear it anyway. We weren't allowed to wear shorts or pants to school.
Other memories include climbing trees and I was never a good climber. Once I climbed my Uncle Clem's ladder to the top of the windmill and sat there and cried until he came home to help me down. I still don't like heights. I get dizzy when I look down below.
I remember swinging as high as I could go and try to reach the sky. Friends would push each other until the swing was going very high, and then they would run underneath the swing.
We would swing from vines in the woods, pretending to be Tarzan.
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| Christine, Nell and Sue |
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| Back to front: Sue, Nell and Christine |
I remember going to Bible School every summer and we always had Kool Aid to drink. We didn't have this at home very often so it was a special treat.
When we were in fear for our lives, it wasn't because of drugs, gangs, shootings, etc. We just didn't want our parents to be mad with us. I always wanted to please my parents and tried not to disobey them.
We made decisions by counting out "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" - there's more to this rhyme that we used to say but I don't use that word anymore!
I remember in the summer when I was a teen ager, we would go to "singing schools", staying all day for a week or two at each school we attended. Our teacher, Mr. McKinney, was very strict and you didn't misbehave. We would sing gospel songs and take turns leading the singing. I wasn't very good at being a song leader. I love lunch time when we sat around eating our lunches we brought from home. They sat all morning inside the building and were soggy. I still like soggy tomato sandwiches which were my favorite, with salt and black pepper on the tomato. I guess we had water to drink. I don't remember having soft drinks. And there was always a piece of homemade cake or cookies with our lunch. Sometimes we would have a banana or pineapple sandwich.
This is enough "remembering" for one day. Times were simpler in those days but I really wouldn't want to trade them for more modern times. I love my central heat and air, electric applicances, hot water, refrigerator and car! I even learned to use a computer in my old age and digital camera. I don't care much for today's music and haven't asked for any devices to download music to listen to while I am out walking
