Nostalgic Friday (Re-post)

***Re-post from June 4, 2010


I know those of you who have faithfully read my little blog every day (thanks, mom!) since I started it, 3 months ago today by the way, are going to be disappointed that I have made the decision to not do Fancy Friday today.  There are really only so many pictures of cute little espadrille wedges, lace doilies and doggie dresses that I can find to show you.  Plus, there are just too many websites out there who are stingy with the photos of their goods and I'm just not in the mood to be all stressed out by testy photos this morning cause we all know, "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy".

So I'm just gonna shoot the bull today and see how that goes.  I've never been much good at shootin' the bull or making small talk which is why I went all through my elementary and middle school years without making any friends and only speaking out loud when my very life depended on it. 

I'm not kidding. 

I once flipped over in my desk (you know, the old school kind that your books went underneath and the teacher lined up in rows?) and the teacher went right on teaching because I just stayed there, quietly flipped over on my side in my desk, until one of the other kids told the teacher that Diane had flipped over in her desk to which she replied, "Diane, you are the only student I know who could turn over in her desk without making a sound." 

I was really a different child, however, outside of school and around those I knew well.  It was almost like I had this whole two lives, split personality disorder thing going on.  At home I was cutting flips and cartwheels and dancing in front of the t.v. or mirror in my disco pajamas to the Bee Gees and making prank calls with my bestie (you know, the whole is your refrigerator running? well, you better go catch it! kind of thing), which was totally ruined by the whole caller i.d. business. 

What a buzz kill for our kids today.   

Yeah, they have the internet and Wii and GameBoy and cell phones(except for my kids who remind me on a daily basis that they are the only kids in the whole school and world who do not have cell phones) and ipods, and all the other fun futuristic stuff that we could have never even conjured up in our wildest of imaginations but there are things that I look back on and wish my kids could get the same simple joy out of doing that we once did. 

Here are a few that come to mind:

~playing outside all day in the summer, despite the heat and humidity, because the fun that could be invented outside was way better than the fun that could be had inside... due to that whole lack of video games, computers and five hundred and ninety five channels on t.v. thing again.

~getting super ecstatic about the Wizard of Oz coming on t.v. once a year or the Charlie Brown or Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman specials on holidays because we couldn't just pop in a dvd and watch them anytime we wanted.

~popping popcorn on the stove by putting the kernels in a pot and shaking it back and forth really fast across the burner until magically, the popcorn appeared and pushed the lid off the pot. Because, what the heck was a microwave?!

~dialing a rotary phone or using a phone booth

~answering a phone without having a clue who was on the other end.  Okay, this was not always a good thing, I admit. But still...the anticipation was exciting anyway.

~making a record skip on the record player or playing a record backwards to see if the demonic rumors were really true.  Again, maybe not such a good thing, but ahh...the memories. And for the record (pun intended), I don't recall ever hearing any satanic messages on any of mine.

~jumping rope (for the fun of it), hula hooping, playing hop scotch or Red Rover or Ghost in the Graveyard.

~experiencing the excitement and awe of a Polaroid. Wow!  It was like....magic.  Name that movie.

These are just a few I can recall at the moment but I am always thinking of things like this and wondering when they became history and I suppose it has always been this way, since the beginning of civilization.  I mean, after all, many of our parents (mine included) didn't even have t.v., or even a car, when they were growing up.

And that is what we like to call "progression", sometimes a wonderful thing and sometimes not so much. 

I am gonna vow right here and now to at least take my kids to a drive in movie this summer because yes, there is one still in existence about 25 miles away from us and to pop us up some corn in a pot to take with us.  :) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!  And btw, you can dial *67 on your phone and prank call away.  Just don't call me cause I know 'em all, probably even invented some of them.