Hey Dad...

[Gary04GT]

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?"

"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All the food was slow."

"C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day. Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look larger.

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie." When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 15.. Before that, the only car in our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning.. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren.. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?


MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?

Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not

[TaylorMade]

I got a 2. Lol, but great post. Most of that I would have been in the same position as the kid.

[SuGamer]

Oh my god Gray! You've proved to me that I'm really starting to get older! And I'll only in my early 30's!

[Mike-in-Orange]

Whoa whoa, wait a darn second here! I remember 18 of those and I'm only 45! Since when is 45 "older than dirt"?????

[Gary04GT]

quote:Originally posted by Mike-in-Orange

Whoa...Since when is 45 "older than dirt"?????

Since you passed the test with a high score! []

Congrats!!! [^]

[pt_tom]

Over what hill?? I don't remember any hill? [:I]

[KingKole02]

I got 6. I guess I lived with my grandparents for too long. hehe

[VellianPT]

i remember 2 but have heard and seen more of those becuase my grandpa collects antiques and such. good post tho, i enjoyed it

[Gary04GT]

quote:Originally posted by pt_tom

Over what hill?? I don't remember any hill? [:I]

Or, maybe [:I] the question should be: What do you remember??? [] [)]

Welcome to the "Older Than Dirt Club"! [?]

[CREWZIN]

quote:Originally posted by Gary04GT
[brWelcome to the "Older Than Dirt Club"! [?]

I'm in, 24 out of 25! What the heck was Black Jack chewing gum? I seem to remember Double Bubble (pink squares) were the gum of choice...each came wrapped up with a comic strip/joke.