From my past (revisited)

So this is a repeat of what I posted on my sisters' blog, with a few additions...

I was visiting a blog I recently found, written by a single dad with multiple children in his care, and he was mentioning his childhood, a childhood that started before the 1980s. It got me to thinking, as I'm much older than he is, that there must be quite a bit I'd forgotten about... Here are just a few things...

1. Marlin Perkins & Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
2. The Wonderful World of Walt Disney
3. Pilgrim8-7407
4. manual typewriters and the race to get 1 of the 10 electric typewriters in Mrs. Costello's typing class
5. riding in the back seat without a seat belt
6. Channel Lumber
7. Great Eastern Mills
8. Kresge's
9. Two Guys
10. signing up at the Computer Lab to access a computer in college (OMG, I'm truly O.L.D.)
11. Gino's
12. American Bandstand
13. Saturday Night Fever (edited:  I spent $11 of my monthly $20 allowance on the double album)
14. Abbott & Costello
15. Korvette's
16. Creature Feature
17. Seaside Heights when you could walk on a beach without stepping on cigarette butts
18. crabbing in the bay with Uncle W
19. TV without a remote
20. black and white TV 'cause that's all there was
21. Romper Room
22. The Bowery Boys
23. Wonderama with Bob McAllister
24. Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans
25. My Favorite Martian
26. My baloney has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R...
27. Apollo 11
28. the Manson Murders
29. the birth of the bikini and the mini-skirt
30. The Munich Massacre at the Olympics
31. gas rationing and even/odd days
32. Watergate
33. Pope John Paul II
34. The Me Decade
35. the famine in Bangladesh
36. life before the VCR
37. bra-burning
38. Mr. Ed
39. Pixie Stix
40. Jack's Deli (only if you're from Bloomfield, NJ, will this mean anything to you!)
41. Bradlee's
42. B. Dalton Booksellers
43. Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips on Saturday afternoons when we went to the library
44. baton twirling class at the Civic Center
45. the swings at my grandfather's house
46. the lily pond at my grandfather's house
47. Tommy as Santa Claus at my grandmother's on Christmas Eve
48. my cousin singing Olivia Newton John's I Honestly Love You
49. the start of the Electric Company and Sesame Street
50. HR Pufnstuf
51. Land of the Lost on TV
52. The Greatest American Hero (okay, yes, I love TV!)
53. Lawrence Welk
54. Guy Lombardo
55. The first Rockin' New Year's Eve in 1973
56. The Edge of Night
57. The Secret Storm
58. Luke and Laura
59. the Son of Sam murders
60. Ted Bundy
61. Dirty Harry (1971)

Anyway, some of these were happy memories, some were newsworthy (and not so happy), but all of them were from my youth, in the 1960s and 1970s.  I skipped senior year in high school to go to the Freshman Honors Program at the University of Delaware from 1977 to 1978 and went back to my high school to graduate with my class in 1978.  There are many memories from that first year of college that I could have put on this list, but I didn't.  The most valuable memory is meeting my friend Chris in November 1978 and becoming friends with him "officially" in January 1978.  We've been friends ever since.

I remember getting our dog, Belle, in 1970.  Belle was a beautiful Samoyed and she's spoiled me for any other breed of dog.  If and when we get a dog (we're planning to get one when he/we retire) I'll be pushing for a Samoyed, although I know hubby dearest is pushing for a chocolate lab or a black lab.  The one thing we agree on for sure is no small dogs!  I remember the kids in my school stopping to pet my dog through the fence.

I remember learning to ride a bicycle on M DeF's bicycle; we didn't have a bicycle when I was young.  It was purple and had a banana seat.  I thought I was SO very accomplished when I didn't fall down and go boom!

I remember the first time I had a crush on a guy, Rick G. from my grammar school.  In our 8th grade mimeographed "yearbook" there was a Remember When page.  Totally by accident, I'm sure, the editor included "Remember when Krys C. has a crush on Ricky G.?"  Oh, if only they'd gotten their tenses right!  I can so vividly remember being mortified.  And I blush really bright red when I'm embarrassed!!!

I remember calling white German Shepherds "lemon shepherds" when I was small.

I don't remember this, but my mom loves to tell the story of how I walked around the neighborhood, a mere not-yet-5-years-old new kid on the block, knocking on doors to introduce myself and ask if they had any children I could play with - obviously I was still an only child at this time!

I remember walking to grammar school and back and thinking I was such hot stuff because I could walk alone.  We lived 5 houses from the school.  I really wasn't that cool!

I remember TM getting in trouble in the cafeteria in grammar school for blowing the wrapper from his straw across the table.  Sister Adrien used to stand in the choir-loft-that-would-eventually-become-the-library and ring the school bell if anyone misbehaved at lunch.

I remember when she retired, my dad made her a gavel out of a piece of wood whose grain looked like the Virgin Mary.  People thought she was so strict, but I really liked her a LOT!

I remember getting hayfever for the first time during the STA summer picnic in the summer of 1977, at just 16 years of age.  Never had allergies before that!

And I suppose I could go on forever, but this has been enough of a break.  Gotta go back to work.  I reallly loved remembering these things.  Would love to read YOUR childhood memories...