When I was your age...

Have you ever seen your dad repair a flat tire on his car by patching an inner tube? Ever see him attach chains to the rear tires for traction in the winter? Do you remember little round lights that people put in the center of a car’s grille that were called running lights?

Do you remember when turn signals were usually called blinkers or when high beams of headlights were called brights? Do you remember when there were more American cars on your street than foreign cars and when many of them had white tops but the rest of the car was another color? Do you remember when it was easy to tell the make and model and even the year of most cars?

Do you remember when you could buy any brand of soda pop in a bottle and when they were delivered to stores in wooden crates and when you bought them you carried them home in six-pack cardboard cartons? Remember when pull tabs for cans were something you had to remove and discard?

Have you ever looked through old family photo albums and noticed many men dressed in suits and ties, like maybe around a dinner table when visiting relatives during the holidays or even at sporting events. Have you ever had to that?

Have you ever dressed up just to visit an aunt or an uncle or your grandparents? Have you ever owned just one pair of dress shoes that you were only allowed to wear on special occasions?

Have you ever owned just one tie or just one suit jacket?

Have you ever heard pants referred to as britches? Ever had someone warn you that they would warm your britches when they were talking about a spanking? Did a parent ever ask "where's my belt?" Not because they needed it to hold their pants up but because you were about to get your britches warmed.

Have you ever lived in a home where all the rooms had printed wall paper instead of painted walls, or where there was more linoleum flooring than there was carpet? Has your kitchen or bathroom ever had linoleum on the walls?

Have you ever pulled a chain to flush a toilet? Have you ever pulled a string to turn on a light in a room? Have you ever had a doorbell built into a door that you had to turn to ring it because it wasn’t powered by electricity? Have you ever heard your basement referred to as a cellar?

Have you ever had garage doors that swung open instead of lifting and that were locked from the inside with 2x4s? Have you ever had a glider on your front porch? Ever sat out there at night with a transistor radio listening to a baseball game before most of them were televised?

Have you ever had a wooden screen door that slammed shut by a heavy spring and then bounced a few times? Ever patch a hole in a screen with duck tape? Do you know what white washing a tree is?

Do you remember when bug killers came in glass bottles that had a skull and bones printed on the label to warn that it was dangerous? Was turpentine ever a regular staple under your sink?

Did your mother ever wear a diaper on her head like a scarf? Did she ever wear a scarf when she dressed up to go out for the evening? Were white gloves ever a part of her ensemble? Did your dad ever refer to his sport coat as a monkey suit? Were you ever warned “no monkey business while we’re gone?”
Was there ever a time when you ate more pizza from a box that came from a grocery store than from a pizzeria or more hamburgers that your mother cooked on a stove than were bought at a fast food restaurant? Did your mother ever serve you hamburgers on bread instead of on buns? Do you remember when catsup and mustard came in glass containers instead of plastic ones?

Was going on a family picnic ever something besides a family reunion? Was there ever a time when the entire family was supposed to be seated at a dinner table at the same time even if it meant coming home from something else you were doing?

Do you remember a television series that starred one girl who played two parts and the lyrics of the theme song included the words…identical cousins? Have you ever listened to Gunsmoke on the radio?

Have you ever had one friend before you became a teenager that meant more to you than all of the others, someone who seemed to help you understand things no one else could? A person you would continue to know for years but rarely see? Someone who no matter how far you drifted apart from after growing up will always be the best reminder from that time?

Do you smile because they were a lot like you and shared memories of something that only the two of you would carry through life?

Have you ever had a dog that makes you feel the same way? One that you would wish you could spend just one more day with just to show it how much you appreciated it?

Now that I have teased the fragile minds of Baby Boomers I will shift into another area of gray matter of memories. Okay, so maybe not all Boomers minds are memory challenged but let’s see;

Recalling what you think you remember when it comes to those who came before us have you ever been told stories by someone who often began a tale by saying… “When I was your age?” Did that sometimes make you think you were being compared in a less than favorable way to them?

Have you ever been told by someone that when they were your age they walked to school for miles regardless of the weather and that they were lucky to even be allowed to do it? Has anyone ever told you that they had to do their chores before starting off for school?

Has someone from the generation before yours ever said to you that if they misbehaved as a child they would be sent to the woodshed? Have you ever heard of anyone being punished by being whipped with a barber strap? Has a parent or another adult ever said this to you…“This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you?”
Have you ever thought that the problem with today’s younger generation behaves worse than you did as a kid? Has an older person than you ever told you the same thing? Have you ever thought that children today don’t respect their elders as you were taught to do? Have your elders ever told you that it was more common to do that in their day?

Have you ever heard them say…“Children should be seen and not heard” or “Children shouldn’t speak unless first spoken to?”
Have you ever heard a parent or someone their age describe food they had to eat and then made a face just thinking about it? Have you ever heard of anyone eating lard? Has anyone ever told you that they were lucky if they had meat on the table? Have you ever known anyone who regularly ate animals like opossum or groundhogs that they had to kill them self.

Have you ever heard someone talk about frying food using fat or making gravy from fat? Ever known someone who used bacon fat as some sort of medical remedy?

Ever seen anyone chop off the head of a chicken and then pluck the feathers from it so they could cook it for supper? Has anyone ever told you that they grew up drinking milk that came straight from an animal in their own barn?

Have you ever had someone tell you that most of what ended up on their dinner table was something they grew in a garden or raised from a calf or was the bounty from fishing or hunting? Did you ever know anyone who said they were lucky to make it to town once a week to purchase the other stuff?

Has anyone ever told you that once upon a time they considered an apple or an orange as a treat and that they were lucky to get one? Did anyone ever tell you that receiving a piece of candy usually only happened on special occasions or that if they received more than one piece they had to share it with someone?

Has anyone ever told you that when they were small all of their clothes were hand-me-downs or made at home?

Have you ever known anyone who lived in a house with no indoor plumbing? Has anyone ever told you that they grew up in a home where there was only an outhouse out back instead of a bathroom inside? Has anyone ever told you that when they took a bath they had to heat water on a coal stove to dump into a tub, or that when they did that they had to save the water for the next family member to bathe in?

Have you ever known someone who said they were only allowed one bath a week? Was Saturday night usually that one time? Have you ever known someone who used a wash board and whose washing machine was a wash tub? Have you ever known someone who washed their clothes with Ivory Soap Flakes?

Have you ever known anyone who said they felt lucky if they had more than one change of clothes?

Has anyone ever told you that when they were young they rarely wore shoes in the summertime? Have you ever known someone who received social assistance called relief? Have you ever known anyone who could tell stories about being employed in some place called a work camp?

Has anyone ever told you that their first car had a crank that had to be turned to start it? Have you ever known anyone who said they started driving before they were thirteen years old?

Have you ever known someone who never made it past the seventh grade but still grew up and was able to work a steady job and care for a family? Ever wondered why that person seemed smarter than you anyway?

Have you ever known anyone whose only mode of transportation to faraway places was a bus or a train? Ever know anyone who was born at home? How about someone whose entire family was born somewhere besides a hospital? Have you ever known someone who knew someone who was placed in an asylum because they couldn’t see or couldn’t hear?

What about someone whose only crime for being locked away was because they had mental issues no one could deal with? Have you ever heard someone talk about someone they knew who got sent away because they were unmarried and pregnant?

Have you ever known someone who was sent out to find work before they were twelve years old to help support the family? Or someone who sold eggs door-to-door to neighbors or anyone who said that they once washed clothes for other people to earn a few dollars just to get by?

Did anyone ever tell you that they lied about their age to join the military because they weren’t old enough to join? Have you ever known someone who said they once worked for less than fifty cents an hour and felt lucky to have a job?

Have you ever known someone whose mortgage payment was less fifty dollars a month? Has anyone ever told you that they remember thinking that a ten dollar electric bill was outrageous?

Has anyone ever described a machine as a contraption? Did you ever see someone roll their own cigarettes using some sort of contraption that had a rubber mat? Has anyone ever told you that their favorite cigarette brand was called Bugler?

Have you ever known someone whose favorite coffee brand was Postum? Have you ever known someone who drank more tea that was brewed using a root instead of a bag? Has anyone ever offered you Sassafras Tea?

Have you ever known someone who shaves with Barbasol? Ever seen a man shave with a butter knife? Ever had a grandparent take you to a barber shop that had cigarette butts scattered on a black and white checkered floor?

Have you ever heard the phrase ..."shave and a haircut two bits?” Do you know how much money two bits is? Have you ever been around an older man who smells like Vitalis? Have you ever known someone who used Lilac Water to smell nicer? What about Vanilla Extract?

Has anyone ever told you that when they were little they revered John Dillinger as sort of a hero? Has anyone ever talked about revenuers as bad guys? Have you ever heard someone talk about a cop who walked the beat in their neighborhood?

Have you ever known someone who grew all of their health remedies in a garden or rubbed a potato skin on a wart and then buried it in the moonlight to remove it Ever heard of St. John’s Wart? Has anyone ever talked about where they are from and called it the old country?

Have you ever seen a woman hang a large rug outside and beat it with a broom? Have you ever seen someone put up cooked tomatoes or other vegetables in jars that had two-piece lids with the name Ball on them? Have you ever known a woman who baked pies on Sunday and placed them on the sill of an open window to cool?

Do you remember when phone numbers had prefixes that were said by a name instead of numbers? Ever known someone whose phone number started with Hickory, Capital or Hollywood? Have you ever known someone who needed an operator to make all of their calls for them?

Have you ever been in someone’s home whose telephone was partially made of wood that needed to be cranked to make a call? Have you ever known someone who never had a phone or didn’t know anyone else who did? Has anyone ever told you about watching news reels in a movie theatre? Did you ever know someone who talked about buying popcorn for a dime in a theatre or only paying that much to go to the movies?

Ever known someone who only went to theatres they could walk to from home? Or someone who saw Shirley Temple movies when they were new? What about someone who remembers when all movies were silent?

Have you ever known a woman who sewed on a manual sewing machine? Ever known anyone who bought a house from a catalogue that had to be shipped to them? Have you ever seen a man use a drill that wasn’t powered by electricity? Have you ever known someone who said they had to make their own toys when they were little?

Has anyone ever told you that as a child their favorite past-time was kicking an old tin can or pushing a barrel hoop with a stick?
Have you ever known someone who played a game called stick ball? Have you ever known anyone who could mail a letter for two cents, buy a cup of coffee for a nickel? Do you know what a nickelodeon is?

Have you ever seen a tractor with steel tires? Do you know what Twenty Mule Team products were used for? Have you ever known someone who kept alum powder in their medicine chest? Do you know what it was used for? Did you ever know anyone who actually used a cookie jar for a bank?

Have you ever heard someone refer to your blue jeans as overalls? Ever known someone who thought it was unladylike if a slip wasn’t worn under a dress? Do you know what a petticoat is? Have you ever known an old woman who smoked a pipe or chewed something called snuff and then spit it into a coffee can?

Have you ever heard someone talk about buying vegetables from a man on a horse drawn cart who passed their house every day? Have you ever wondered what those big concrete blocks that still dot some curbs were used for?

Have you ever heard someone refer to any alcoholic beverage as spirits? Ever heard someone talk about Spirit of Ipecac as a cure for something or taking a dose of Epson Salts to feel better? How about sorghum to make something taste better?

Have you ever rode in a rumble seat or stood on the running board of a moving car? Have you ever heard old men tell stories of hopping onto moving trains or onto the back of a delivery truck to hitch a ride? Have you ever ridden on a trolley bus or talked to a motor man?

Has anyone ever told you that it was regarded as impolite to call someone you didn’t know personally by their first name or that it was an expression of disrespect for a juvenile to address any adult in any way other than Sir or Ma’am, or Mr. or Miss? Have you ever known someone who remembers when it was usually okay for a child to be spanked by a stranger if they misbehaved?

Have you ever known someone who earned extra money by shoveling coal through a metal door that led to someone’s basement or mowed a neighbor’s lawn for ten cents using a push mower? Has anyone ever told you about the days when black smoke poured from every chimney of every home on their street?

Do you know anyone who remembers when little girls were expected to curtsey when meeting an adult or when little boys were expected to either bow to a lady or shake a man’s hand, or when both were expected to sit up straight if they took a seat?

Has anyone ever told you that they were expected to wear a tie to sit down at the dinner table when they were a child or might be punished if they walked away from a meal without first being excused?

Have you ever known someone who actually did have their mouth washed out with soap for saying something they shouldn’t have.

Sound like anyone you know too?