<p>During middle school, I remember a nightly police presence in my suburban neighborhood. They were guarding a lawyer involved in a civil rights case. Lots of dads traveled for business. At least one mom was entertaining at least one policeman alone in her home. </p>
<p>At least three moms at the country club were already intoxicated by 10 am when the pool opened and they showed up to claim their tanning space and watch their kids. One marriage ended when the dad blamed the mom for a tragic pool accident. At least two couples at the club were involved in “open” marriages with each other.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like I grew up in an Updike novel.</p>
<p>I remember actually wearing a hat and gloves to church. And I remember wearing a garter belt when it was a purely practical choice, nothing fancy/sexy. I refused to wear a girdle. I remember when they invented blow dryers. And electric rollers. </p>
<p>All the brand new jewelry that my parents gave me is now vintage.</p>
<p>Ball bearing skates that strap on your shoes, cap guns, hitting the caps (from cap guns) on the street with rocks to make them “pop”, playing kickball endlessly in the summer at the end of our “dead end” street – now called a cul-de-sac, walking to the neighborhood store with a list and money from my mom when I could barely read, roller skating without elbow and knee pads, Mom and Dad didn’t check the Halloween treats, lying on the floor of the car or the “ledge” above the back seat when on a long trip (no seatbelts, of course), going for a ride in the car for something to do on a Sunday afternoon.</p>
<p>Umm…some people liked it. Its still my diet drink of choice. I always have a six pack or two in the basement refrigerator.</p>
<p>Remember when pediatricians made house calls? Remember penicillin shots? My mom would clean the house and my bedroom before the doctor arrived. No matter how lousy I felt, she always made me put on clean pajamas too.</p>
<p>measles - I remember having measles. And parents were still worried about polio. I remember getting the sugar cube. (that was for polio, right?)</p>
<p>I notice we’re spanning the 50s and the 60s, but that’s cool.</p>
<p>Remember Arrid deodorant in those little jars?</p>
<p>Captain Midnight, My Friend Flicka, Howdy Doody, The Wonderful World of Disney, Friday Night Boxing with the Gillette Fight Song, Dinah Shore singing the Chevrolet song. </p>
<p>Brylcream (a little dab’ll do ya)
You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent
Call… for… Phillip… Morris</p>
<p>Anyone remember Robin Hood, with Richard Greene? I loved that show. then there were the Saturday morning shows - Rin Tin Tin, Fury, My Friend Flicka.</p>
<p>Fury, the story of a horse and the boy who loved him! This thread is bringing up some memories. Lassie and the hapless Timmy, forever falling in wells, holes, gullies, etc.</p>
<p>The old Disney movies, Old Yeller, Big Red, Pollyanna, Mary Poppins. They showed one each year at Christmas at my elementary school and I remember the teacher that cried at the endings.</p>
<p>And drive-in movies. We’d go on the amusement rides at the drive-in theater, eat dinner in the car, change into our pajamas, and watch the cartoons before the main feature wood come on. Then, we’d fall asleep in the “way back” of our wood paneled station wagon (no seat belts, of course), and wake up as we crossed the bridge from New Jersey back to Pennsylvania. I’ve always been sad we couldn’t give our kids the Drive-in movie experience.</p>
<p>Oh yes–and “zones” instead of “zipcodes” (Philadelphia, 11, PA).</p>
<p>I remember sitting on a small suitcase in the front seat between my parents so I was tall enough to see out the window. I rode all the way from western NY to Florida like that while one of my sisters slept on the back seat window ledge. I also remember flash cubes and how hot they would be. I made creepy crawlers by the dozen and learned that metal gets hot. Dogs in our neighborhood would roam around and never seem to really bother anyone. On Sundays, I remember watching The Wonderful World of Disney and My Three Sons. I remember Red Ball Keds, party lines and just the fact that everything was slower. My parents often had friends over for cards and coffee and life seems like it was much more laid back and friendlier. This is making me miss my folks, their friends and my childhood. I had a great childhood.</p>
<p>We still have a couple of drive-in theaters near us and we make a point of going every summer! It brings back such wonderful summertime memories for me and now my kids have memories of going to the drive-in, too.</p>
<p>I remember being in grade school, and having the teachers herding us into big rooms along with lots of kids from other classes, and we’d all sit on the floor and wait and wait and wait. Until finally the guy on TV would stop talking, and a mechanical-sounding voice would start to count backwards, and we all watched a real, live spaceship take off.</p>
<p>I remember the hair dryer that had a bonnet you put over your head and it inflated with hot air to dry your hair. Loved creepy crawlers but I never had my own. I always had to wait for other kids to give them to me, until I bought it for S1. The Monkees, the original Saint with Roger Moore. Watching Lawrence Welk with my parents because it was the only show on. Twilight Zone was pretty scary. The Jetsons. I remember when you could only get Coke in glass bottles. When you had to actually get out of the car to open the garage door.</p>