BEYOND THE BOOKS #9

CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA
BEYOND THE BOOKS is a weekly meme where KissinBlueKaren throws out a topic (mostly non-bookish), and we blog about it.

THINGS I MISS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

1. Dr. Seuss Book Of the Month Club.

My father enrolled me when I was four and I can still see the white box the books came in and I remember how they smelled when I first opened the box. I made sure my son had a subscription, too.

2. The mom and pop corner store.

Brown's was less than three blocks from my house. It had a penny candy counter. My dad would send me to get him a pack of cigarettes (all you needed was a note back then) and he would give me an extra 50¢ for penny candy or popsicles. I remember digging through the freezer treat cooler searching for a rare blue raspberry ice pop! 

When I got older it was Tigerbeat and 16 fanzines with a bottle of Tab.

3. Woolworths.

The lunch counter I especially miss; from getting lunch with my grandmother and popping a balloon to see how much my banana split would cost, to getting real cherry cokes with my preteen friends and then taking our pictures together in the photo booth. I remember buying my mother a fancy handkerchief and perfumed bath cubes every year for Mother's Day.

4. My portable record player and 45s.

5. Drive-in theaters.

6. Getting a new Easter outfit.

In the 60s this meant: bonnet (I think I had one just like the one above), dress, spring dress coat, patent leather dress shoes and matching purse, white gloves, and white lace trimmed ankle socks. I also received a necklace and a pin to wear on my coat in my Easter basket. My mother kept my hair short, so I always had a hair cut the day before. My mother never told me I was pretty and she tended to dress me very plainly the rest of the year, so it was basically the only time I received complements about my appearance. I associate feeling good about myself with Easter outfits.

7. Vacations on the Jersey shore.

We went to Wildwood every other summer. I miss the boardwalk and the beach. I haven't been to the seashore since 1983. The NYC shoreline doesn't count. Ha ha.

8. Hanging with my dad.

We listened to records and danced, played boardgames, fished, went out in his speed boat, looked through our encyclopedias, went to horror and sci-fi B movies on Saturdays, stayed up late on Friday nights to watch scary movies on television, watched The Flintstones and Rocky and Bullwinkle together, built models of Apollo spacecraft, went bowling and played minature golf, got pizza every Friday night, played with my slot car race track, camped (sometimes just out in the backyard), caught bugs in jars to look at, and went to the A&W Rootbeer stand when they still car hopped and put the tray on the window.

What do you miss about being a kid?