The Simple Life
 

For some crazy reason I fell into a long daydream today as old summer memories flooded my mind. 1972. About 10 of us neighborhood girls used to assemble on the same backyard beach every single day of summer. We always came equipped with the necessities, our AM transistor radios that we simul-tuned to WNIC and sang along to MacArthur Park —secretly wondering why anyone would leave a cake out in the rain.

What a time it was.

What was fun when your life was simpler?

1972 Summer...just graduated!! didn't know what I was going to do...did a lot of playing as well. Horse riding, fishing, a lot of fishing...just having fun!! Now this is the norm...
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...ziktdz1u3w.jpg

My life was never simple...I had to fight tooth and nail for everything. My Bro was the one treated to the simple life...spoiled rotten.

Butttttttt, I did have some simple pleasures, such as memories similar to yours, Cindy. We didn't live near a beach but did have a favorite pool to hang. Lots of fun and dancing on the grass, getting burnt to a crisp and even a little swimming, when we got too hot. Never got our hair wet though..:eek:...Unless someone dunked us.

Fun Times...Thanks Cin..:)

1972 ! Mmmm! The year before I got married and life as I knew it ceased to exist!

Until then I too spent most of the year on the beach with friends, playing music, and/or partying. I certainly do have some wonderful memories of those times.

Summer of '72
 

Wow, I had to stop and think what I was doing!!
I was finishing my first year of nursing school. We went for 36 months.....no summers off for us!
Two weeks vacation each year.
So I was sweltering my days in class or in the hospital [which was NOT air-conditioned back then]
After class or clinical we ran to the pool which just had been installed and chilled there.

Summer of '72.......I was 12 years old. I have such good memories of life as a child. I was truly blessed to have wonderful parents. I was the baby of three girls. My Dad thought I could do no wrong (well, he was WRONG but I didn't want to disappoint him so I let him believe this!!). :rolleyes:

I remember a picnic table in our backyard. During the summer my Mom would buy a watermelon and cover the table with newspaper. We'd all sit out back and eat watermelon and talk and laugh and Mom would always get the "silly giggles" as she called it and she'd laugh at just about anything....she was SUCH a good Mom. :)

I would love to go back to that simpler way of life - I miss it so much. It seemed so much more relaxed back then. No cell phones, pagers, computers.....how on earth did we ever survive?? :eek:

1972 was not the simple life for me. By November, I had a beautiful new daughter and an almost three year old son. But the year itself was a nightmare. I had to quit my job because of morning sickness and migraines. We moved to a falling-down old house...across the street from my ex-husband's parents. (That's a whole 'nother story)

I didn't have a car, so I was stuck in the house alll day with my toddler, my morning sickness, the carpenter ants, bats and maggots. I nearly miscarried several times, and became aware that I was married to a man who didn't love me (duh, but I was 22).

I sat up in bed most of the night trying to keep the heartburn at bay, and having horrific nightmares when I did sleep. We seldom had hot water, the septic backed up, and it was so cold that the water in the cat dish would freeze overnight. The walls were insulated with old newspapers and bat guano.

I would say 1962 was my last "simple" year. I was twelve, and the world was my oyster. My friend Millie's mother would take us to Lake Sunapee in the summer where we could swim and giggle and daydream.

The next year I watched on television as the news unfolded that four little girls were murdered in a church bombing in Birmingham, and for the first time in my life I understood that there were people mean enough to hurt a young, innocent person for no reason other than meanness. I realized that someone could hurt ME!! After that, life wasn't simple anymore.

Sorry, Cindy. I'll do halcyon days when I'm in a better frame of mind.

The summer of 72 I was 8 years old. It was my fathers last year
of internship and we lived on the Cape.:) We lived in a trailor on a large
lake and everyday we went to the ocean or to the lake. My father
had a sailboat and every weekend we went sailing and had big
barbeques with the Doc's family that my dad was working with. Ahhhh,
life was so uncomplicated(at least for me).:)

Sox

Thanks everybody, '72 was just the random year that got me thinking, when was your simple life, and what was it like? That year I was 9 and thought I was 19.

But! In '75 I got my first 10-speed and I was much older and wiser, simple things changed a lot that summer.:eek:

I don't remember a year in particular. I do remember walking to the park with my friend every day in the summer and spending all day swimming at the pool there. I was probably about 10, so it was around 1980.

Funny, but I can't imagine letting my 11 year old walk to the pool all by himself and go swimming all day and come home whenever he feels like it. Times have changed, huh? It was simpler (and safer) then in so many ways.

'72 ~ the yr b4 I graduated. Never a dull moment and lots of fun. My boyfriend had a 57 Chevy and we cruised non stop. *gas was cheap then*

I come from a large family and we always had my friends, my sibling's friends at the house all the time. Mom and Dad always said the more the merrier. Everyone always wanted to be at our house. All summer long there was a croquet set and badminton net set up in the yard. We'd go swimming on 70 degree days, we were fearless. (or so we thought)

Your'e right Kelly; the simple life was so cool and so "simple". :)

I have to say tho, that '68-69 were amazing yrs for me. I was 13/14 yrs old and my gf and I would ride the tandem bike all over town. I was the littlest, so had to man the back seat. MYF hayrides, school dances and first crush boyfriends. My friend had an ice skating rink in her backyard, so spent most of the free Winter time over there. The music of 68/'69 was never to be matched.

Thanks for the memories, Cin. I love nostalgia. :)

1972 - I loved that year!!!!! Sweet 16, really in love with a boy 2 YEARS older, a BBF, almost lost my virginity, giggles, feeling so wise and grown-up. Now DD is 16 but it's not so simple!!

My simple life peaked when I was 11. Lived on a huge farm, rode horses, swam in the local gravel pit. Walked everywhere and didn't worry about the bad people in the world because they hadn't touched mine yet.

Ahhh...thanks for taking me down memory lane. I love it.

Mine was way before '72 but the year doesn't matter. I think 11 is quite often the last of the innocent years because we get outside the family more and find out there are others that might hurt you.

I used to be the tomboy - ok, maybe I still am. :D I had a bike with mountain bike tires on it, and used to go into the woods by us with my friends and go mudding.

That and the girl scout camp I went to each year. Platform tents, water from a spiket, etc. LOL, I loved that stuff. And at the end of the day, watching the campfire rise to the crystal clear stars in the sky - that was awesome.

DM - Thanks for the memory. Coming from a large family there was always plenty of people around. My dad comments on a time when he came home from work and there were 20+ kids at our house and only 3 of them were his. LOL.

I can't remember specifically the summer of '72. I know we moved that summer from MO to IL. I know that I still thought I was going to marry Michael Jackson but that's in another thread. :p

Simpler times consisted of playing, playing, and playing. We roamed all over the place and created games along the way. We would play in the woods across the street for hours on end, coming home soaked from playing in the creek. We'd go to the park, swim in the pool. And yes, DM, we always made a skating rink in our backyard in the winter. I loved it. I began skating when I was 4 and didn't stop until we moved to the desert.

What changed? We had 3 large oak trees on the side of our yard. I loved climbing those trees and would sit up there for hours. One year when I was in 7th grade I was up there after school and decided to swing down on one of the branches. So down I went and plopped down in front of one of the cutest most popular boys (8th grader) and his girlfriend. He said hi and we all talked briefly. I was so embarrassed.:o I never climbed that tree or any tree for that matter again. Well, until I was older. LOL.

This thread has gotten me thinking. Lots of really good memories.

I remember when I was 8 or 9 my sister Susan (the sister who just passed away) would take me to the pool with her. We belonged to a pool called "Venetian" and I loved to go there. I didn't know at the time that she had a huge crush on one of the lifeguards there!! We'd go and spend all day at the pool - Mom would fix peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and potato chips and orange Hi-C and we'd be off with our picnic. Such good times.

I love this stuff!

I grew up in the greater Detroit area and the Faygo jingle was always my summer song, I loved it and wish I could get a recording of it. I don't know whether it's the REAL Boblo boat, but for anyone who drank Faygo pop, check this out!

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqyDj7RX6Y

I LOVE THAT JINGLE!!!!!

ETA: This just in, it's official, the commercial really was filmed on the Boblo boat! For you non-MI folks, Boblo is/was an island amusement park in the Detroit River between MI and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It's rumored to be the only place where you can go south to Canada from the USA. Neato!

My fav summer '81, was when I was 16. My sisters were 15, 14, & 13. We had a covered front porch with a red picnic table on it. We would play Uno all day, every day, with the neighborhood kids. We wore out the cards that summer.

We blasted the stereo speakers in the windows overlooking the porch. About a foot away from the table. Listened to songs like Sailing by Christopher Cross and The Rolling Stones. Betty Davis Eyes was big back then too.

We sisters got along great that summer. Mom was at work and who knows where are little brother was. :D That was the best. Life got tough after that summer.

:hug:

I was also 9 in '72!:eek: (dang you look so much younger...whats your secret?:p)

Life was truly so much simpler and innocent then...

This was the year we finally moved back to my hometown after having moved to Kansas, Texas, back to Kansas, Nebraska and landed back in Colorado.

Oh my gosh the memories!! Our neighborhood in Nebraska was so awesome...our babysitter lived down the block on the corner...there was a boy who had a garage band that loved to play Chicago tunes across the street...a neighbor who had a firing kiln in her backyard and we would paint clay figures in her basement...a house where we thought a "witch" lived...we endured a severe ice storm that took the power out for many days, a tornado that ripped our roofing off. But the best part was that we lived directly across from a park that had one of those little trains that went all the way around it and the municipal swimming pool...spent lots of time there and that was the summer I hit my chin on the side of the pool and had to get stitches!!

Ok... back to today!!

Thanks Cindy for starting this thread!:hug: Such awesome memories we all had!!

Well I am not going to remember 72...I was only a year old.

I do remember the summer when I was 8 or 9 yrs old and we would go camping. We had a trailer and left it at the site. My mom, sister and I would go up during the week and Dad would join us on the weekend.

The most memorable time camping was when sis and I were riding our bikes around the campground early one morning. My bellbottom jeans got stuck in the chain and I couldn't get them out. I had to take off my pants and push my bike back to the trailer in my underoos!!!! That is what you call embarassing :icon_redface:

Life was good back in 1978-82. I was 12-16 years old. We would hang out in my friends basement playing drums and guitar while singing along to any and all rock and roll. All the kids hung out here and we were often seen sitting on the corner smoking cigs and head banging to the boom box of the day. Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Rush and Led Zeppelin were frequently heard on that corner. Bell bottoms, concert shirts, flannels and Converse gym shoes was the style. We were called Freaks because we listened to rock and roll and dressed differently. We also garage hopped in those days and left our mark on each one.

Life was also good in the White Eagle Woods as we got older, 1980-1984, where we would frequently sneak down to party next to the Des Plaines River. I met my future husband in those woods. ;)

ADD IN: Remember when your mother would yell your name out the window or door? If she yelled your full name, including middle name, you knew you were in big trouble! hahaha

Thanks Beth~~ Now I can't get she's got BETTY DAVIS EYES, outta my HAID... Loved that song by Kim Carnes. One hit wonder, but a great song w/that raspy voice.

Hey Trish, I could climb a pretty mean tree myself! I seemed to never have a knee that wasn't scabbed over and ORANGE from Mom's dose of Mercurochrome.:D I looked like a mess most of the time B4 I noticed boys!

Every Sunday night we would all pile on the couch to watch The Wonderful World of Disney. Bath, pj's and then TV. My Dad would pop popcorn in this electric popcorn popper that you had to put oil in the bottom of and then add the kernels once it got hot. That thing made the best popcorn. I have never tasted popcorn like that since.

I remember sleeping so soundly back then, too. Why can't I sleep like that now??

Oooh we had one of those popcorn poppers - looked kind of like a wok with a yellow plastic lid. That was awesome popcorn. Then, they had to go and get the new fangled air popper and life was never the same.

We watched Disney and Wild Kingdom on Sundays, too.

Kick ball games in the front yard on Summer evenings until it got so dark we couldn't see. Do kids nowadays even know what kickball is??? We'd go inside and our feet would be so dirty Mom made us take two baths!! One to get our feet clean and then new water to bathe in!!

Catching lightning bugs (fireflies) on our hands and then letting them go.

Going to the vegetable stand with my Mom - it was just a shack that this man who had a huge farm had to sell his vegetables in.

I never realized how much I miss those days.....

Yes, I remember! Funny how things get passed down...my son gets the full name holler when he is in trouble now too. :eek:

Kelly, We used to have those kickball games too. I was trying to
explain it to my dd9 the other day and shes like"whats kickball??".
If I could run anymore Id be joining the adult kickball league they have
in my city. Its pretty cool and fun to watch.:)

Sox

I was eight. The family moved alot so I learned to entertain myself. I liked to play with sticks in the mud, my dolls lined up at the end of my bed and dream of life as an adult....I loved dodge ball and 'rings' (you know the rings you swing on in a circle?) I also loved hand ball and tether ball!!

Wind swept cheeks and sunburned nose....the good life :)

How odd, I feel like maybe we did something wrong during our '70s, we never played kickball!:(:confused:

Our thing was Frisbee tag or Jarts or whiffle ball. What a bunch of dweebs were we.:Dunno:

You didn't do anything wrong, Cindy! Just different....everyone had their "own thing" and maybe kickball was a southern thing - who knows. :)

And quit callin' yourself a dweeb!! You're not a dweeb!! OK??? :mad2:






geeze.....what a dweeb.....

I didn't play kickball because it hurt to be hit by the ball! lol

Do you guys remember the forsaken medicine ball in gym class?

:icon_redface::icon_redface: I'm so embarassed - I read your post as "do you guys remember the foreskin medicine ball in gym class?" :sorry:

Oh my goodness Kelly, so did I!!!!!!!lol lol:)

Hmmmmm, very weird.:confused:

Sox

OK - well, I feel better that it wasn't just me!!! :o I read it three times before I realized what it said. And I still have never heard of it!

Thanks a lot!!! I just spit water on my monitor.:eek::D

You ANIMAL, Kelly!! :D

http://dl3.glitter-graphics.net/pub/...whazzniowa.gif

Ok, all you youngsters, how about Dodge Ball, Kick the Can and Red Rover?? Huh? Any of you amember those games..:D

For real? OK, after I spit my coffee out reading this I have to post a pic of the FORSAKEN medicine ball from gym class. LMAO

Here is what an old medicine ball looks like:

http://mensvogue.typepad.com/photos/...edicine_hp.jpg

Today they are often used for exercise. Back in my day they were used to pass back and forth and to unfortunately throw at each other during dodge ball. OUCH! I have been hit with a 12lb medicine ball and that is how it became FORSAKEN. lmao

Here is a simplistic image from today. You throw it back and forth to the other side. However, as a child you would throw it as hard as you could at the other side, usually taking one down in the process. :eek:

http://user230770.websitewizard.com/images/0411b.jpg

So, now you know. ;)

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Sally right over..........

Red Rover, ahhhh the memories. Reminds me of Jimmy Hendrix, dark lit rooms, black lights and lava lamps. haha!