A Simpler Time

Close your eyes . . .  and go back . . . .

Go back. . .before the internet or PC or the MAC or the Smartphone
Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari. . . 
Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's,  voicemail and email.

I'm talking about Hide And Seek at dusk. . . Red Rover . . . . Red Rover . . . .

Playing Kickball & Dodgeball until the first . . no . . .second . . .no . . . third street light came on.

Ring Around The Rosie
London Bridge
Hot Potato
Hop Scotch
Jump Rope
YOU'RE IT!!

Parents stood on the porch and yelled (or whistled)
No pagers or cell phones.

Endless summer days and hot summer nights no A/C with 
the windows open. 

Running through the sprinkler.
Seeing shapes in the clouds.

Popcicles with 2 sticks you could break and share with 
a friend.

Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize at the bottom.

Cracker Jacks with the same thing.

     

Sleep overs and chattering late into the night.

Baseball games in the street and smacking a homer.

Rolling down the bank in front of your house.

Picking blackberries for mom to make a pie.

But wait . . . there's more . . . .

Watching Saturday Morning cartoons . . . .
Looney Tunes, Bullwinkle, Tom and Gerry . . . .

Your first day of school.
New corduroy jumpers, pants and striped tops.
Construction paper and paste art projects.

Swinging as high as you could in those long
swings to try and reach the sky.

Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses.
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers.
Jumping down the steps.
Climing trees.
Cartwheels.
Jumping on the bed.
Pillow fights.

Laughing so hard your stomach hurt.

Being tired from PLAYING.

WORK meant taking out the garbage,  cutting the grass,
washing the car,  doing the dishes.

Your first crush.
Your first kiss (I mean the one that you kept your mouth
CLOSED and your eyes OPEN)

Rainy days at school and playing four square in the basement.

The smell of fingerpaints and chalk erasers.

Friday nights when you could stay up late.

Mom making a Apian Way Pizza and having some cold
slices on Saturday Morning . . . it tasted even better.

Going to the corner store for Penny Candy.

Oh, I'm not finished yet . . . .

Kool-Aid was the drink of summer.  So was a swig from the hose.

Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars.

Attaching cards to your bike frame to rub against your spokes that made that totally cool noise your mom complained about.

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.

Class field trips with soggy sandwiches.

When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids 
got home from school.

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance and another
quarter was a MIRACLE.

When your parents took you to the lunch counter and it was a real treat.

When ANY parent could discipline ANY kid, or feed him, or have him carry groceries . . . And nobody, not even the kid thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home.

Basically, we were in fear for out lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs etc.  We simply did not want our parents to get mad at us.

Didn't that feel good?  Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!"  Well, let's keep going!!

Let's go back to the time when . . . .

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran fastest.

Catching fireflies could happily occupy and entire evening.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed by Mom and made better.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare".
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived during a more pleasant and simpler time.  I know some of you are my vintage.

Those of you who remember will have lived in an era that no one else will ever experience.  the era has passed and slowly those of us who lived it are passing also.  

If you do not remember, than ask your parents, grand parents, or great grand parents.  We went from am radio to the stars. Your era is here, be part it. Make it worthwhile for future generations to build on.  Keep God in your lives.

A Boy Named Teddy

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for* believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

                   Written by Elizabeth Silance Ballard as a work of fiction in 1974 for HomeLife Magazine.