Things I miss
Today seems like a good day to wallow in nostalgia, especially as the Dow is trending toward where it was when I was 10...
White shoes. Just before Easter we'd go to JC Penneys and get new white shoes. You could wear them through Labor Day down south. They were "patent leather"--never understood what was patentable about them.
"Breaking in shoes". In retrospect we always got shoes a half-size too small then wore them til they stretched out. If they were dress shoes that could take a couple of painful months. (Nowadays if they don't fit perfect in the store I don't buy them.)
Keds sneakers and Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. You wore the former until junior high, then you moved up to the latter. Black was way cooler than white, IMO.
White socks with dark shoes. OK until you reached high school, after which you could get beat up. If you wore high-water pants you could get beat up. If you wore dorky horn-rimmed glasses you could get beat up. Most of my early puberty was spent figuring out a) how to get a girl to kiss me and b) how to avoid getting beat up.
Shirts with 3 collar buttons and the little hanger-thing on the back. I remember Gant shirts especially fondly. Wore 'em with narrow ties until fat ties and wide collars became the norm, unfortunately.
Whitewalls above your ears. My grandfather was a barber and gave me free haircuts for the first decade of my life. He was a little careless with the scissors sometimes and would nip my ear. I had bangs in front and a "fade" in back and around the sides. Boy did I like the smell of the hair tonic he put on after he trimmed me up.
Whitewall tires. Nuff said.
No seatbelts in back. My cousins and I would slide around like idiots as we went around curves, driving my parents crazy. We had an early 60's Chevy Impala for awhile, then we went whole hog for the 1967 Mercury Marquis. It had power seats and windows. Man, did I love that car (ours was dark green, my old man's favorite color)...
The smell of a fresh-opened pack of Kool cigarettes. Fortunately, I never got hooked on smoking them, unlike my father. The combination of cigarette smoke, Brylcreem and Old Spice was the most masculine thing ever encountered in those days.
Girdles. Nuff said.
Beehive hairdos. The smell of Aquanet hairspay and musk cologne was a potent feminine scent in those days. For older women anyway.
Old-time funerals. We'd drive down to Mobile or Lafayette (GA) and see relatives never known about until that event. On occasion the deceased would be laid out in the parlor, and we'd have a potluck dinner in the kitchen and formal dining room.
Old-time tent revivals. More entertainment value than Barnum's and Bailey's, and usually cheaper.
That's about all I can process right now. Gotta get back to work.
White shoes. Just before Easter we'd go to JC Penneys and get new white shoes. You could wear them through Labor Day down south. They were "patent leather"--never understood what was patentable about them.
"Breaking in shoes". In retrospect we always got shoes a half-size too small then wore them til they stretched out. If they were dress shoes that could take a couple of painful months. (Nowadays if they don't fit perfect in the store I don't buy them.)
Keds sneakers and Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. You wore the former until junior high, then you moved up to the latter. Black was way cooler than white, IMO.
White socks with dark shoes. OK until you reached high school, after which you could get beat up. If you wore high-water pants you could get beat up. If you wore dorky horn-rimmed glasses you could get beat up. Most of my early puberty was spent figuring out a) how to get a girl to kiss me and b) how to avoid getting beat up.
Shirts with 3 collar buttons and the little hanger-thing on the back. I remember Gant shirts especially fondly. Wore 'em with narrow ties until fat ties and wide collars became the norm, unfortunately.
Whitewalls above your ears. My grandfather was a barber and gave me free haircuts for the first decade of my life. He was a little careless with the scissors sometimes and would nip my ear. I had bangs in front and a "fade" in back and around the sides. Boy did I like the smell of the hair tonic he put on after he trimmed me up.
Whitewall tires. Nuff said.
No seatbelts in back. My cousins and I would slide around like idiots as we went around curves, driving my parents crazy. We had an early 60's Chevy Impala for awhile, then we went whole hog for the 1967 Mercury Marquis. It had power seats and windows. Man, did I love that car (ours was dark green, my old man's favorite color)...
The smell of a fresh-opened pack of Kool cigarettes. Fortunately, I never got hooked on smoking them, unlike my father. The combination of cigarette smoke, Brylcreem and Old Spice was the most masculine thing ever encountered in those days.
Girdles. Nuff said.
Beehive hairdos. The smell of Aquanet hairspay and musk cologne was a potent feminine scent in those days. For older women anyway.
Old-time funerals. We'd drive down to Mobile or Lafayette (GA) and see relatives never known about until that event. On occasion the deceased would be laid out in the parlor, and we'd have a potluck dinner in the kitchen and formal dining room.
Old-time tent revivals. More entertainment value than Barnum's and Bailey's, and usually cheaper.
That's about all I can process right now. Gotta get back to work.
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