Strolling Down Meomory Lane With My Grandkids

I was talking to my best friend the other night on the phone, and I was saying how quick my grandkids are growing up. Unfortunately she was never able to have children. I was also telling her kids don't play the games or do things like we did back in the day. I grew up on a hill and there were lots of things for us kids to do. Unlike kids today being on the Internet, playing games online, wii, playstations, xbox and gamecubes. My grandkids range in age from 16 years old to 2 years old. Well about 4years ago I had moved back to Stow Ave ( which is the hill). I at that time was babysitting them while my daughter worked, and I had a job as well. I told Anthony, Shelly and Makayla stories about the hill lots of times. One day they wanted me to take them on a walk and tell them all about my childhood. I was so happy that they wanted to know what me "Nanny" did as a young girl growing up back in the day.

Take a stroll with us as we walk around Stow Ave. Sit back and close your eyes as we go back in time. For me taking them on the walk on the hill brought all the memories rushing back to me. As we walked along the tree lined streets and the pretty yards. I talked about my life, I could see myself back then growing up. We first went down the backstreet. I told the kids how we would sleigh ride down the hill where the woods were, and hope we did not end up in the creek. There was the time I sledded head first into a tree, and my friends had to go get my mom." Mom was so upset'! Then onto the basketball court, where when we were all playing, and I happened to be standing under the hoop and got hit in the head with the ball. They laughed at that one. And the 'tarzan swing' off the big old tree, and how me and Donny collided and we fell into the brush that someone had thrown down there. I was lucky to be in one piece after that one. I guess I was kinda a tomboy back then. I may have even been a bit accident prone back then. I told them about berry picking in the woods, and how we ate the berries before being washed, yet we are still alive, and going down to the creek. In the summer we would take cardboard boxes, and try to slide down the hill as well, meaning there were a lot of hilly areas on our Hill. I showed them the house I grew up in, and to me it looked smaller than back then. Of Course the house looked so different... It was so many years later. I am 53 years old now, and when Mom & Dad bought the house I was 5 years old.

I told them about "all us kids" playing hide and go seek at dusk, and then mom or dad yelling out the door for us to come home. All parents did this back in the day. Me and my friends sitting on the porch on the corner of our street,trying to act like the older girls. Sneaking into the old ladies yard that had the acorn tree! We needed the acorns to make necklaces. We played Simon Says and Kick the Can, Red light, green light. Going home for lunch during my Elementary school days and having PBJ sandwiches.Bolonga & cheese sandwiches on the weekend. Watching our favorite cartoons, like the Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby Doo, Mickey Mouse club, Popeye, the Archies, and on Saturdays my dad would make pancakes for breakfast and grilled cheese & tomato soup for lunch, and of course getting our allowance and getting penny candy from the corner store. We also had so much fun playing hopscotch. I also remember rollar skates with keys, and we would skate on the Backstreet, and this could be a pain sometimes. Oh and I remember pizza night! Yup on Saturday nights, my parents would order out for Pizza. Wow such a treat, back then! sometimes we would even get Submarine sandwiches!

We had fun playing with Hula Hoops and contests! We played card games like: Crazy Eights, War, Old Maid & Go Fish sometimes. We had fun making up backyard shows, and we would charge money to come and watch our shows. Mom gave us old stuff to help us out! We played so many games back then.. We raked leaves and made houses out of them, and then we played house. We built snowmen in the backyard and hoped they would not melt.

Where did all that go? I told my grandkids about the time my brother built a clubhouse, then it caught fire. And back then us girls had sleepovers, and moms made homemade popcorn and we would have soda pop! I can't quite remember though the time me and Barb tried to make Rock Candy. I don't really think it came out right.

We all went to church on Sunday, then all of us kids went to Sunday School, we would all walk back home up the big hill after that. And what a long steep hill it was, especially in the winter. Then we would sit down and have a nice Sunday dinner at my Grandparents house, then we would sit in the green room and watch Black & White TV. That time really sticks in my mind at my Grandparents house. The warm feeling was so wonderful. I wish I had that time back now.

I am glad that I had the chance to show my grandkids a bit of my life growing up. They enjoyed it at the time, and still remember it. I now hope to tell my 3 & 1 year old granddaughters about my life "Back in the Day".