A “Sweet” Recollection

 

 

I remember those days of the summer- riding our bikes through the neighborhood, playing hopscotch, double-Dutch, and every other fun activity that came to mind as children.

Running back and forth to the store to buy our junk-food goodies!

Them “Hostess” and “Drakes” Twinkies, cupcakes, ring-dings, funny-bones, chocolate devil-dogs and cookies.

Them “Nestle Crunch” and “Hershey candy bars, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Oh Henry, 100 Grand crispy milk chocolate with caramel, Snickers, Whoppers Malted milk balls.

When Mr. Softee came around sounding his music, we’d all run in the house to get money to buy ice-cream cones with or without sprinkles, black-cats, dog-face, fudge-sundaes, milkshakes, ice-cream sandwiches, Italian ices, Popsicles and slushies.

Those were the days!

Us children did not have a care in the world except for the big plans we had- to begin another adventure for the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

A Long Time Ago

I remember the classic telephones during my youth, the push button as well as the rotary. I also recall how we had to dial zero to speak with an operator or to call the police.

Television was also different back then. Broadcast station networks did not stay on all night long, twenty-four hours a day. After midnight or one a.m. I think it was, the channels would play the star-spangled banner right before they went off the air until the start of the day.

Walkman’s were a popular item in the 1980’s. We played our favorite cassette tapes in them and walked around conveniently listening to our favorite tunes. We played our albums on record players.

The bus only costed sixty-five cents to ride then the fare went up to seventy-five. We only had to pay two dollars to see a movie at the theater, sometimes they’d even show double-flicks for that price.

 

Down Memory Lane

I remember a few years ago my mother and I looked at quite a few old family photos and after we went through them all we both enjoyed the time spent doing so.

The photos inspired us to reminisce and discuss moments of past events with laughter, further input, and togetherness.

While we as people don’t have to dwell into the past it is nice to periodically take a walk down memory lane to appreciate the fun, wonderful, meaningful, and life-teaching experiences and encounters that helped to shape and carry us to our present.

Even some of the bad things we may have endured is a testimony to what we were able to overcome, rise above, and triumph from.

We can look back and be thankful for the times we have shared with others and the benefits that was brought into our lives. The beauty of it all allows us to look ahead at what was left behind then take forward everything preciously gathered.

Looking Back

I remember the department stores of my youth such as May’s and Alexander’s. These were great places to shop to pick up anything one needed and great places to get all back-to-school items for the start of each new term.

I use to love Woolworth’s. It was one of the best five & dime stores on our planet. There was one in Manhattan, New York located on Broadway and Amsterdam avenue during the 1980’s.

My mother and I would walk up there from my great-grandmother’s brownstone apartment. They sold the teddy bear hamsters my great-grandmother once purchased for me and the paper dolls my mother and her often bought for me along with other convenient, useful and desirable products.

Those were great memories to look back on and cherish.

Happy Birthday To Me

I don’t officially celebrate my birthday yet I do acknowledge the occasion

Forty-four years ago I was born on this earth. My birthday always falls right after mother’s day.

When we are a lot younger it seems as if our life goes by kind of slow then once we get measurably older and reminisce back it kind of seems as if life ran by us so fast.

I’ve been on this planet for a very long time yet I am still considered young and it is true to a point but it is funny how when people describe being married for forty years, living in a house for forty years, owning an item for forty years and etc… It is all looked upon as being a long period of duration compared to the actual age of a person.

Nevertheless, I am very content within my life at the present moment and am proud of my age, I have no major regrets throughout my journey here, and I have a whole bunch of great memories to glance back at with a beautiful sense of nostalgia.

I love being forty-four as I feel really good inside and continue to welcome the distinct progressions that my unique experience has to offer.

Midge And Moose

As I’ve written years ago a few times I was enveloped in the comic world of Riverdale and it’s comical and entertaining fictional characters.

Archie’s comics were a great and occupying part of my childhood and also part of my adulthood as I still buy/order, read and enjoy them today.

I’ve never watched the modern television show/series that is on nowadays on WPIX channel eleven as I have no interest in the drama.

It’s the old classical style comics that hold my interest and one particular one that I remember as a child was a sketch about Moose Mason and Midge Klump.

Midge had went away on vacation and she spoke with Moose over the phone, I think she was on the phone with him because it was so long ago and I’ve read so much stuff through out the years, anyway when Midge talked to Moose she told him to send her a wire (meaning a letter).

When he actually did mail a envelope out to her at her location it literally was a metal wire that was included inside and Midge was dumbfounded.

It was so cutely funny to me and I thought that it was just part of the writer’s creative imagination as I didn’t assume anyone could be that idiotic even though Moose’s character was always kind of slow always saying “Duh” before he spoke and all.

I found out as I got older that I was wrong.

A guy that was in his sixties use to come by my house from time to time when I was in my twenties. He couldn’t read and he was ignorant. I’m not saying that he was ignorant because he couldn’t read he was just the type that was lacking knowledge in general and wasn’t able to rise above it due to his mentality and lifestyle.

Nevertheless, we got on the subject of hereditary. And I was saying that my genes were a little different than one of my other relatives because we didn’t have the same parental bloodline.

So he stopped me while I was in the middle of explaining and uttered out to me, “Hey cool” (how he referenced me). “Now, what a pair of pants got to do with this?”

This guy didn’t know the difference of definition between genes and jeans. He didn’t even know there were two different words just with the same sound.

Right then and there I had remembered that sketch and I hollered inside now understanding just how real art imitated life to that ludicrous degree.

When I told a few people about it back then they laughed and they were like “He’s that dumb”. And I was like “Yeah”.