Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have. As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were painted with bright colored lead based paint. We often chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps, then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never overweight; we were always outside playing. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Some students weren't as smart as others or didn't work hard so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem solvers. We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. ellen

Ellen, How true! It brings back a lot of good memories. Dot ooo---This Email Scanned for Virus---ooo by ooo--- Norton Anti-Virus---ooo ----- Original Message ----- From: <ELLEN542@aol.com> To: <NJ-MEMORIES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 11:25 PM Subject: [NJ-Memories] Looking Back > Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have. > > As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. > Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special > treat. > > Our baby cribs were painted with bright colored lead based paint. > We often chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint. > > We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and > when we rode our bikes we had no helmets. > > We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. > > We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps, then rode > down > the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. > After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the > problem. > > We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were > back when the streetlights came on. > No one was able to reach us all day. > > We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. > > We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, > but we were never overweight; we were always outside playing. > > Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. > Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. > > Some students weren't as smart as others or didn't work hard > so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. > > That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem > solvers. > > We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, > and we learned how to deal with it all. > > > ellen > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >