Ah, life was...or seemed to be...so much easier when I was a kid

Get up....eat breakfast made by mom

Get dressed with clothes mom washed and ironed and paid for

Put on shoes polished or shined by dad (no gym shoes then)

Walk to school

Greet my best friend,Evanis, every morning, hang up my coat..put my books away...blab until the teacher told us to rise for the pledge of allegiance, then prayer....

Then it was 3 hours of class.....

When recess time came.....we had 3 of them...15minutes in the morning,15 minute after lunch recess,and later...we had tiptoe recess...where you tiptoed quietly to the bathroom ..

At recess we played tag, jump rope, red rover,hopscotch,hide and seek...girls and boys usually in different "camps"

Lunchtime we sat at our desks and opened our lunch boxes or paper bags

my mom packed me a baloney sandwich and an apple or banana

After lunch there was more pay attention in class until 3:15...when we would close our day

with prayer and an evening hymn before leaving school... that we all return safely the next day

I would walk with Evanis to the corner where she caught a bus home

and I headed home on foot

When I walked in the backdoor of our house ( I can still here that creaky hinge) 

I would grab a glass of milk, and on Fridays my mom had cupcakes waiting on the counter

I would then go to my room to

either listen to records,watch Garfield Goose on TV in the front-room , or the Three Stooges (my brother's favorite)

or go call my girlfriend Patsy

and I mean call.....yoa Pat,yoa Pat,yoa Patsy

at her back door....we dare not ring a bell

 around 5pm I would come home for supper...My dad would be getting up...he worked nights,and we would eat dinner together..yum cooked by mom..always 2 bowls and a platter

a vegetable, potatoes or noodles or rice,and meat

no desert, except on Sunday...and milk...always a big glass of milk

Then it would be off  to share dish-washing duty with my brother.....he liked to dry

return to my room to do my homework, do my memory work (Bibles passages and hymns or prayers)

later watch TV with my parents in the "living room"

recite my memory work to my parents 

take a bath, put on fresh PJs that mom had ironed

sit with mom and dad a bit ...then prayers....and lights out

How much I remember that I wanted to grow up

live my own life

eat what I wanted to eat

dress with clothes I picked at the store

be the boss of my own life

and never memorize another thing

Now I wish I could go back in time and really enjoy and know what I had, say 

thanks dad...for such a loving safe and secure childhood.

I have thanked my mom.

And, oh, the Bible verses and hymns....they come to me in times of trouble

this I am thankful for, too

....a comfort that is hardwired inside of me

as is a good childhood