We are never too old to remember what we may never see again.
There is no doubt that many of us who were born before rock and roll, spandex and fast food who may still have lots of old treasures and family heirlooms tucked away in and old trunk, in the attic, in the garage or at a friend’s who has lots of extra space in the back 40?
Most of these artifacts of the past are now only just fond memories of days gone by that we will likely never forget, but this might just ‘tweak’ the passions of our youthful years.
*Remember when our parents bronzed our first pair of baby shoes? I guess there is no such as thing as a ‘bag lunch’ anymore, which was packed full of mom’s wholesome food, but was quite often traded to a buddy for marbles or left in our lockers. Do they still have those old wooden desks in the classroom with the ink-wells and that tiny space underneath to keep our junk and treats? Did you ever own a box of crayola school crayons with eight colors, a bottle of old reliable Lepage’s Mucilage Glue or got sent to the office when you were bad to run off a million pages on the inky old Gestetner machine? We also had those little boxes of Brunswick 200 gummed reinforcements, which were used to keep all of the pages in our loose-leaf binder, but also worked great for sticking on our nose and foreheads to impress the girls.
*What about drive-in movies? Way back in the 50’s or so, Ponoka had one where the north trailer court now stands. It was owned by the Somshor family and on many cold or ‘red hot’ nights, you could see row upon row of cars — many with steamed windows — the speakers hanging on the window and had to make quick trips to bathrooms and to grab treats at the tiny concession stand in the middle.
*What about that classic ‘outhouse’ in so many back yards, where the seat was usually very cold and we got in trouble many times for dropping the roll of toilet paper down the hole? We were at a great family reunion recently in Rimbey where they actually had a pristine side-by-side ‘two holer’ with dual roll hangers and magazines.
*I will never forget my mother’s noisy old washing machine with the rubber ringer rollers. The oldest child got to roll through dozens of diapers each and every day, then help to hang them out on the line to blow dry in the wind. She also had those big safety pins with the colored plastic tips on the end, which quite often accidentally stuck many an innocent babe.
*One of the first wildly popular and totally ‘family’ black and white television shows was the weekly very funny Art Linkletter’s ‘Kids say the darnedest things’. There was absolutely no warning of what would come out of the mouths of those excited children. Remember the games we used to play as kids? Pixie Pick-Up sticks, which were tossed on the floor and then carefully picked up and piled by colors without messing up the others; jumping jacks; snakes and ladders; and, trying to become King or Queen of the art of YO-YO! world.
*As a young girl, did you have a 5-year Keepsake Dairy to keep track of your deepest dark secrets, best magic wishes, school crushes and greatest adventures? This precious little book always had to be locked and hidden away from parents or nosy brothers or sisters. As boys, we always longed for pockets full of those bright red caps for our cap guns and then went out and waged many secret neighbourhood battles, which created lots of noise, lots of smoke and lots of fun, but absolutely no casualties. Most families had to have a little red wagon in which we delivered newspapers, gave rides to little brothers and sisters, helped bring home groceries from the store or raced and often rolled down the big golf course hill.
*I could go on and on, but I have just about run out of space. But I just have to mention — our first big sniff and dash of Evening in Paris perfume for the ladies and Old Spice for the guys: the Juke boxes in the booths of downtown cafes that played the best tunes of the day for a nickel; Smith Brother’s cough drops which tasted like licorice; scads of best friends; roller skating with loud music and flashing lights at the Ponoka Complex; and, those crazy days when we thought that girls in curlers came from Mars.
Always cherish the memories and have a great week, all of you!!