I miss my roller-skate key. I even remember that I kept it in the cedar jewelry box I bought with my own money at Grand Canyon. Every once in a while I'd go through a roller skating phase and then I'd wear the key around my neck on a shoelace for a few days. This was back in the 50's, when my feet were growing a 1/2 size a month, so my mom used the wrong end of the key to unscrew the bolt and make my skates longer.There are other things I miss:
- Jacks. (Under the blanket? Over the fence?)
- Hoppy taws. (I'm sure I've mentioned this before...I was a Hopscotch champion. I loved the sound my blue and purple marbled hoppy taw made when it hit the #7.)
- Jump rope rhymes. ("Not last night, but the night before, 24 robbers came knockin' at the door...")
- Monkey bars. (I could flip forward without hands, and hang by my knees.)
- Swings. (I was gratified when I learned to pump. It didn't count if I was being pushed.)
- Singing my high school fight song in a packed gymnasium. ("And just to look at them is quite a treat, it's hard to beat...")
- Laying on my front lawn smelling the lilac bushes on a warm summer night.
- Watching Johnny Carson with my dad. ("When you get to the Slausen cut-off...")
- Reading Rod McEuen poems. (Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows)
- Making snow angels in our backyard after it was dark, while waiting for my dad to get home.
P.S. Does anyone know of a book with jump rope rhymes?
7 comments:
I loved Rod McKuen, too. And I miss 4-Square, tag football and kickball, prison ball...ah, sweet youth! If we only realized then how fleeting it truly is!
I miss not having to do the laundry and dishes, or worry about money. Does that count?
I actually had a pink and green swirlly hoppy taw. I LOVED hopscotch.
I miss everything you mentioned, plus catching fireflies in mason jars after dinner, playing board games, and sitting on the front porch with my boyfriend until midnight.
Just found your blog. Love it! I miss playing outside all day and into the evening during the summer when I was a kid. Can't tolerate the heat for that long, now. So sad.
These are some of my favorite memories, also. Especially the Rod McKuen poetry. Way I was a kid, my neighborhood always played together, outside, after dinner. We played the old forgotten games: Red Rover, Annie-I-Over, dodge ball, hide and seek, tag and touch football. Kids today don't do these things as neighborhoods any more!
I miss sharing a room with my three sisters, bunk beds, pecan trees in my front yard and my dad's old 57 chevy pickup that had no seat belts and the driver's side door flew open when you turned corners. He knew it terrified me so he'd undo the bungee cord that held it closed when I'd get in. Funny Daddy.
Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope Rhymes (Paperback)
by Joanna Cole (Author), Alan Tiegreen (Illustrator)
Just found this on Amazon. I know nothing about it.
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