A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Take a stroll with me down memory lane and see how many of these things you remember. It's funny how we forget many trivial that were, at one time, significant in our lives until someone reminds you. Some of these things I haven't thought about in years, but once I was reminded, they put a smile on my face and the memories came flashing back.

Who remembers the good old 45 RPM Spindles? Gosh I haven't thought of them in ages. But they were necessary when we played our records, because only the 78's were the right size. The 45's needed the spindle in order to fit our record players. Gosh, I remember at my 7th birthday party, we played and replayed my favorite record outside in our backyard, the 45 spindle working like magic as … sang "Venus, oh Venus, goddess of love that you are". Well, we didn't wear the record out, but we'd forgotten about it and the good old California sunshine melted that 45 record. It had curled up at the edges, never to be played again. A sad day…

And who could forget the Drive-In Movies? It was the Saturday night hang-out for teens, back in the day, when it was fun and safe and thrilling to see a movie in your car! For me, it was special, because it's where my husband of 34 years told me he loved me for the first time! I couldn't tell you what movie was playing, but I will say that was one heck of sweet night for me.

Do you remember gum wrapper chains? Again, I haven't thought of them for a long time. Chewing gum was BIG when I was a kid. We had wrappers galore. I chewed Juicy Fruit, my favorite. So my gum wrapper chains were always yellow. We'd have contests to see who could make the longest chain.

Ah, before Microwave Popcorn, the only way you could get popcorn in your home was to JIFFY POP it! What an invention! Our popcorn always burned because we had an electric oven and we never could get the temperature right. I remember standing over the oven, holding onto that handle and shaking and shaking, hoping that we didn't undercook or overcook the popcorn. The bag would burst on its own, right down the middle. If we were lucky, our popcorn wasn't brown and burnt around the edges. Most days, we weren't so lucky!

McDonalds was a big thing in our day. It was one of the first fast food chains to come along. Honestly, I don't remember the 15 Cent hamburger. But I sure do remember a time when there wasn't a McDonalds. Goodness, my mom cooked every meal and occasionally we would go out to dinner at a restaurant, but those times were few and far between. I do remember when Jack in The Box opened up right across the street from my high school. It was very innovative, to drive through and order your food. My goodness … that was a treat!

And lastly, do you remember a time when we only had television stations from major networks, 2, 4, 5, 7,9, 11 and 13? The TV stations would go to "bed" after a certain time. Who remembers when that was, midnight? 1 or 2 PM? I can't recall now, but I remember those Test Patterns. Yep, they'd come on and let all the insomniacs know there wasn't going to be any television until the morning.

Times have certainly changed. Why does it seem like all those old things were sooo good to have? Life was certainly simpler then, but can you imagine a time when we had no 24/7 TV, cable, cell phones and computers?

Hard concept, isn't it?