What Do and Don't you miss from childhood?

I guess I was lucky - I am pretty much a klutz, but was usually picked not last, but next-to-last for any athletic endeavors. I always was very friendly to everyone, so we all knew I was a klutz and would probably fail miserably at most anything - if I hit the ball fair, I'd still be likely to trip on my way to base ... but enough people liked me anyway.

For any sports activity, even *I* would pick me last! I am strong, and willing to try, but that's it for positives attributes in athletics! My only sports victory of note ever was I did beat the captain of the football team at croquet the one time we played that in gym! I was so used to playing on our course at home, which had various slopes and hazards naturally, that playing on a perfectly flat field was a breeze!

I do not miss getting wheezy as a kid - now thankfully medications have improved enough that I rarely need an inhaler!

I do miss being able adn willing to eat almost everything! (My food allergies did not kick in until much later into adulthood!)

I also miss...
my mom's pink applesauce, made from cold, crisp NY apples. I miss the beautiful, bright leaves around the lakes in the fall. We've lived in IN for years now, but I won't forget the beauty of the north-east.

I miss... playing in the band- I'm hoping to join the community concert band after the new year. (It's too late now to join for the fall concert.) I miss living in a neighborhood where people know, trust and look out for each other. When I was little, there were a bunch of kids on my block; and if any of us screwed up, no matter whose house we were at, it always got back to your parents. On the other hand, though - if something happened and your parents weren't available, someone else's parents would always let you stay at their house till your mom or dad got home. They would call and say, "Elyse is at our house, we ate an after-school snack and she is going to stay and do her homework with us, and then we will walk her home."

I don't miss... being the constant target of a bully (two girls and a boy who were in kahoots).

Snakemama--- ((((HUGS))))).

Things I miss:

Ice skating at night on the pond at the end of my street. A man that lived right on the banks would turn a flood light on to shine out over the ice, so we could all skate safely. When he turned the light out, we knew it was time to go home.

Hot fudge sundaes at the drug store ( not called a pharmacy back then ) that had a soda fountain.

Riding the bus with my mother when we would go shopping in all the big stores in Providence. Of course we always ate lunch out too when we went, and that was always a real treat.

Saturday afternoon high school football games,, and the BIG game each year ( Warwick vs Cranston ) which was on Thanksgiving morning. I know Gretchen remembers that too! In the afternoon it was off to Aunt Milly's house for a huge Thanksgiving dinner - Italian style - with enough food to feed an army.

The long drive ( or so it seemed ) to Lexington to visit Aunt Lilly, and the fun I had exploring in her old house - especially in the attic, and also "playing" her piano.

Going out on Dad's boat in Narragansett Bay and digging for clams with our toes at low tide.

Visiting my Uncle Vinny's hobby shop in Providence. I never walked out the door without some trinket or craft to make, that he would give me before we left.

And of course, going to Uncle Archie's pizza shop in Pawtucket and feeling special because I could go in the back and watch him at work in the kitchen. And of course there were always pizzas to take home too.

Washing and drying the dinner dishes with my brother. Yup - the days before there was ever an automatic dishwasher in the house. We would alternate each week - one week I'd wash and he would dry, and the next week we switched. I always liked to dry, since when my brother dried, he'd wait till the towel was nice and damp, then chase me all around the kitchen, snapping the towel at me. It stung like crazy when he connected, but it was all in fun.

I could go on and on with what I miss, but you can see it's just about all family related. They are all gone now, and I'm the lone survivor.



Things I don't miss:

Walking to school in nasty weather. Yes - we WALKED to school if we lived under 2 miles from the school we attended.

My mother telling me that I did something that I didn't do. To this very day, if anyone says I said or did something that I didn't, it makes my blood boil!!!

My high school English teacher constantly comparing me to my brother. I think the old bird had the hots for him. One day she started in about my "brother John" and what a wonderful student he was and yadda-yadda-yadda. Before I realized it I came right out and told her "I'm not my brother John". Oops - I thought my butt was headed straight to the principal's office, but she never said or did anything.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of much right now. That's a good thing - the good far outweighs the bad! :)

I miss:

our trailer. We had a huge trailer in a really nice campground for YEARS and we would go every weekend in the spring/summer and fall and some years my mom and I would spend the entire summer there. Riding my bike there and riding to the beach that was less than a mile down the road, the huge pool with a big water slide, the store that had TONS of penny candies... you'd get a little paper bag and we'd stuff it full lol. All the events they had like dances, kiddie bingo, hula hoop contests, pet day, scavenger hunts, etc. Sitting around the campfire at night singing songs and making s'mores or firepit pizzas. It's seriously the thing I pine away for the most. It was my favorite place in the whole world. I had my first kiss there (totally awkward lol), my first boyfriend... my first REALLY BAD sunburn lol complete with blisters and being sick as a dog for over a week because of it. We spent the entire day at the pool... from the time we got up until the time the pool closed at dusk. SO sick lol. Just so many memories. it truly was my happy place.

I don't miss:

School. I NEVER liked going to school. I did fairly well in school (except math... I really struggled with that. seeing numbers backward and such really made it hard for me) and I wasn't picked on or anything but I NEVER enjoyed it. I would have been perfectly content being homeschooled lol.

snakemama - prayers that you are safe now and can heal from that abuse. :love:

sparks19 - I too remember the days when all you needed to do for a whole day's fun was have a beach or a pool and other kids to play with!:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redbird

I miss not having to worry about anything, not bills or any other adult issues. (...)

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You're so right about that!!

I miss a lot of things my dad playing his accordion all the polkas, & waltz's.

We sure did have fun as kids growing up. We had those clamp on steel wheel roller skates with a key to adjust the front piece onto our good old saddle shoes, we would roller skate over at the tennis court, there were no sidewalks on our dead end street. There was a huge groove of pines we would play hide & seek in. During the summer we would slide down a hill on cardboard, fly kites in March one time we had a kite up over night tied the string to a clothes line pole, played marbles at school with big holes up near the building to shoot the marbles into, played soft ball with no parents around made up our own rules, walked in mud puddles when it rained, climbed trees, swung from grape vines in the woods, went to the sandpit when the workers were gone & collected agates & still have them, danced to rock & roll music in our basement & wore out three record players, still have those 45 records. In the winter it was skating at the ice rink, or down on the Mississippi River, sliding down the neighborhood hill on runner sleds & hooking up our feet on the other persons sled & making trains flying over the bumps. I used my cousins ski's & would climb the sand pit fence & ski down the hill in the evening with the street light to help me see where I was going. Fun Times For Sure.

I don't miss my mom & aunts giving me a Toni home perm. I came out with the first Afro look before it was even in style. They would leave the rods in to long & burn my hair. Our schools never closed in the winters so we walked to school in really cold weather & back then the girls had to wear dresses or skirts, very very cold on the legs. I didn't like going to Sunday school it was like a big dress up contest, there were girls that actually wore party dresses to Sunday school. I liked school & I didn't like school it depended on the teacher & the class, recess was always fun :). I don't miss taking cod liver oil every morning. I don't miss my folks smoking cigarettes when I was growing up it eventually did them both in.