Growing up in the 60's and 70's proved to be an interesting time for those of us who were alive to remember it. So yea, I'm giving away my age but I'm not ashamed to say that I am 46 going on 21 and most days I act like I'm 17 but, c'est la vie!..
My parents were great. My
mom had a great sense of humor, was very caring, big heart and
literally would give the shirt off her back to help someone. I'll admit
when I was a teen I managed to get my face slapped more then a few times
for running at the mouth but, I deserved it.
My
dad, well he is very quiet and very short! haha. My dad never laid a
hand on me though I'm sure the thought did occur to him more then a few
times. My dad is now 87 and was drafted into WWII where he spent time in
Germany, Japan, and Africa. He also worked on the railroad and retired as a welder from a major chemical company.
So thinking back, these are the things I remember as a child…..
We were taught not to speak unless spoken to. You
didn't go to anyone's house and ask for anything. You didn't get into
their fridge or leave the room you were sitting in unless it was to use
the restroom and even then you asked permission before you went
wandering around their house. This included aunts, uncles, and even grandma's house. To do this meant a nasty ass look from mom and a smack upside the head when you left.
Television…oh gawd…..the TV was black and white and got a whopping 3 channels. Channels 2, 4, & 11 and then….sometime in the 70's we got channels 13 and 53. Got to use that SECOND dial on the TV,WOO HOO!!! The UHF dial that seemed so useless until then. So,
while we are talking TV, let's not forget the awesome antenna on the
roof to help with the shitty reception! This was one step up from the
rabbit ears that sat on top of the TV and usually had some thing like a
clothes hanger or aluminum foil wrapped around the ends to help with the
reception haha. I don't think this really worked but...it was all the
rage!! The antenna that was so
securely strapped to the chimney on the roof came complete with a small
box with a dial that when turned would rotate the antenna to give you
that wonderful snowy reception. For what ever reason when the TV didn't
seem to tune in as well as usual you always had dad say...go out and
look at the antenna. Ok, as a child I would do this. Now, I sit here and I think...why the hell did I have to look at the antenna? What was a small child of average intelligence going to be able to decipher from the chore of Looking at the antenna? Yep...its still there dad…or yep…it's spinning. Anyhow… So...ya
got the black and white TV with the 3 stations that were more snow then
anything and …let's keep in mind…ONE television in the house. So you had to share…which really was an oxy moron cause, you didn't share the TV; you used it till an adult wanted it. I
could be sitting on the couch watching a movie and my dad would walk
in, turn off the movie, put on baseball or football and sit down in his
chair. I would just sit
there….staring blankly at the TV…trying to look nonchalant and
inevitably my dad would say. "Were you watching that?" Yea ok…… But being brought up to always show respect the answer was always...no…I was just sitting here. What I wanted to say was, no, I was sitting here watching it hoping someone would come in and ruin the day for me! But. I didn't……I would sit there for another 5 or 10 agonizing moments then go outside and find something to do. Another thing about TV….it went off at 3am
ever single morning. If you have ever seen the movie poltergeist, where
they play the national anthem and then the TV turns to a lovely snowy
screen…yep…..that was us. Better hope you're not having trouble sleeping.
This then leads to all the wonderful TV programs. I remember shit like Gun smoke, Bonanza, The Monkeys, Laugh-in, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Batman,
Lawrence Welk, Hee Haw for the love of Christ! WHY!! Perry Mason,
Bowling for Dollars with good ole Nick Perry, who later in life figured
out how to rig the lottery, won an assload of money, got caught and died
in jail. Poor Poor Nick…..gotta watch them triple 6's. Cartoons were on Sat and Sunday mornings only. Topcat,
Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner, Pink Panther, The Banana Splits, The
Jetsons, H.R. Puff-N-stuff and I'm sure numerous other suck ass shit. Couldn't wait for the holidays so you could watch better cartoons, like Charlie Brown. Those of us from Pittsburgh will probably remember Paul Shannon's adventure time which was during the week right after school. Only
the really kewl kids would have a back yard carnival and send any money
raised to Jerry Lewis for his muscular dystrophy fund. Ok yea, I was one of the kewl kids one year. The one and only year I was kewl! haha
Rege
Cordic's Sunday afternoon movie which on a good day was a Jerry Lewis
movie or, if you were my mom, who loved to watch stupid shit like Jason
and the Argonauts and other awesome sci fi fantasy movies with special
effects to die for!! Hehe Sorry Mom…may she rest in peace. We
did get a color TV eventually, sometime in the 70's and TV shows
started to get better. All in the family, Sanford and Son, Good times,
Happy Days, The Rockford Files, Columbo, etc.
Since
we didn't really have any thing to watch on TV and no control over the
TV if there was something to watch, most of us spent our days outside
entertaining ourselves. Wow imagine that…going outside to play! (That's cause we didn't have video games haha)
That awesome 10speed bike on my 16th birthday kicked ass! At some point I learned to not use JUST the front brakes and that it is a mistake to attempt to ride a bike while high or drunk. Pretty
sure I still did it. In fact I know I did. I remember riding it drunk
and I remember flying over the handle bars when applying JUST the front
brakes. I still have a rock in my shoulder to prove it.
Mom was easy going. Hated to do laundry and I can't imagine why. We had no dryer so clothes had to be hung outside, no matter what season. Poor dad, his pants would freeze in the winter and when they were brought in, you could literally stand them up on the floor! The washer was a ringer washer. Dangerous contraption that was!! Mom told me when she was younger she had long hair and it got caught in the ringer and pulled most of it out. OUCH! Screw that shit! I like my hair and my idea of having it pulled out…well….doesn't consist of a damn machine doing it!
My parents did buy me a swing set when I was little. You know, that awesome aluminum one that should you swing too high….it would tip over. Ok...that's all fine and dandy…you just had to watch how high you got. But my parents, I think they were comedians. They put my swing set at the end of the yard, right before the damn drop off to the creek. So I would get on my swing and when the bars would start to come off the ground that was your clue to slow it the hell down. Because see, I wasn't smart enough to swing towards the cliff…so if I tipped over, I landed in the yard. I would swing towards the house which meant, had that thing tipped…whoa! What a ride that would be down that hillside!!
Another advantage to living out in the country, no street lights, no neighbors, only the woods and all its wonderful creatures. Dad used to send me to get the newspaper. The paper box was about ¼ mile from the damn house. Not a long walk unless it was fall or winter and it got dark at 5. So I would take my sweet ass time walking to the paper box only to find out the damn thing wasn't there. And we have all done this…don't lie. Your walking back to the house…slow….humming…trying to think of anything other then what the hell might be following you. And you always get to that one spot where you suddenly feel the need to run your ass off till your safe in your house. Then dad would send you back every 30 min till the paper came. GAWD!!! No wonder I was so damn skinny as a child!! Then, there were those days when you would hand dad the paper and he would say…go upstairs and get my glasses. Now, I'm looking at him and his glasses are on top of his head. Did I tell him? Hell no! I wasn't going to get yelled at. So,
I would walk my butt upstairs and pray to the lord above this man had
another pair of glasses because I knew if I didn't find them, I was
going to get yelled at. Nope...no second pair...so I would stall till I
heard him yell,"Jesus Christ ALMIGHT!!! DID YOU FIND THEM???" Then I would come down and look at him and just point at his head. He would reach up…feel them…and say...oh Jesus Christ!!
Mom, god bless her, was an awesome cook but should have left making clothes to the professionals! She
decided one year she was going to learn to sew. So she goes out and
gets this deep blue material with this huge butterfly print on it. Now
these butterflies were huge, like the size of your hand and came in
red, orange, yellow and not pastel colors…oh no…they were NEON colors.
She managed to make me a pair of pants and being raised the way I was…I
couldn't say no when she asked me to wear them to school. Gawd…cause
I didn't have enough going against me being the tallest kid in class,
so shy I would rather sit in a closet, and no friends, now I have on
THESE things, trust me, this wasnt going to win me any new friends!!! But
I made it through the day. I got home and mom was so thrilled I wore to
school something she made me; she had spent the day making me a skirt
to match. Sigh….
So I guess what it all comes down to is….We didn't have Nintendo, or cable TV or designer clothes. But
we did have respect, and knew that our parents loved us
unconditionally. We got spanked by our parents and didn't call the
police, the principal in school could paddle you with out your parent's
permission and there wasn't anything anyone was going to do about it.
Cigarettes were 35 cents a pack, as was a gallon of gas. A candy bar was
bigger and a dime, gum and lifesavers were a nickel and you could get
these things out of a vending machine. Pop or soda for some of you people came in a bottle that you had to pay a deposit on and there was such a thing as penny candy.
