Memories…

Sometime in the twilight of naptime when your mind gets clear of all worries, day to day issues and such stuff… and you drift in a place filled with bits and pieces of memories that have accumulated over all the years. Not really awake… not really dreaming… just thinking of all the wonderful times that you experienced and remembered. Sometimes wishing you could relive it again… sometimes thinking what if one little thing had been ever so different… sometimes wishing that, wow, that it would be nice to do that or be there again. So here’s a small list, that I will not doubt add to from time to time, of some of my favorite things remembered. Maybe they will trigger fond memories that you too once had and give you pause… and a time to reminisce… of things that were… things that could have been… and things that would have changed your life, if only one little thing had happed differently. I’ll basically started with youth and moved forward. It will all be about good things… that’s how I remember my life… all the good things.
List Number One …. from kid up to young adult… and in no particular order. Some of my favorite things and memories… 

• 3 Musketeers Candy bars while playing in the back yard
• riding my old red bicycle and my new found freedom to go places
• putting Mickey Mantle rookie cards in the bike spokes to make noise (mistake) 
• walking home from school with friends… always fun.
• the first McDonald’s real french fries
• old fashioned chocolate malts… the best.
• catch lightening bugs on a summers evening
• riding in the back of mom’s station wagon to get hot dogs in Highlandtown
• playing Monopoly and games with the girls next store
• swimming in the backyard pool on a hot day
• playing cowboys and Indians… and cap gun six shooters
• chocolate babies candies that melted in our mouth
• bit o honeys and Mary Jane candies… and Mallow Cups
• mystery movies, nature movies, and Sci-fi Movies
• US history, especially the Civil War
• Walt Disney and the “Wonderful World of Color”
• ice cold cokes in the real heavy glass 6½ bottles… the best
• taking the red wagon to collect empty bottles for deposit to buy the cokes & candy
• Pizza John’s pizza… best in the world… and how John would always give us extra cheese
• watching favorite Tv shows… first in black & white… then in color.
• playing curb ball in front of the house
• going to Ocean City with the neighbors on a hot summer day
• swimming lessons that didn’t take… can’t teach a rock to float
• baseball with the neighborhood kids
• playing hide and seek in the evenings 
• electric trains and Tyco racing cars
• Christmas and family get togethers
• trips to my grandfathers house
• the family dog that loved to play with the hose water
• learning how to eat blue crabs and peel spiced shrimp… Old Bay
• Crab feasts and shrimp feasts … the absolute best
• snow balls on a hot day
• cotton candy at the carnivals
• eating tomatoes out of my dads garden…always great 
• my first transistor radio of my very own
• 45 records … I could listen to what I liked, anytime I wanted
• building model cars and airplanes from kits
• playing marbles with friends… big time tournaments
• the smell of my neighbor’s scented cigars
• my dad teaching how to do things and fix things
• my mom’s beef bar-b-que
• neighborhood cookouts and playing outside games
• Polock Johnies Polish Sausages
• picking fresh green beans in the farmers field across from the house
• discovering girls really didn’t have cooties.
• the Beach Boys and the Beatles… she loves you… yeah,yeah,yeah…
• Kissing a special girl in a swing at the beach that didn’t lead to anything
• Not kissing a special girl which also didn’t lead to anything but maybe could have
• Kissing a girl that did lead to something… but wished this had worked on the first one
• Hot pants and halter tops… thinking about the first one again… but enjoying all !
• getting my license and my first real car 1973 Gran Torino Sport (the Pinto was a mistake)
• long drives… longer walks… holding hands…  kissing perfected!
• driving to Loch Raven for afternoon trips… feeding the fish
• real milkshakes made from real ice cream
• going to the movies… one theater… one huge screen… sitting in the back
• the girls that chased me and I pulled away from ( not sure why )
• the girls I chased and pulled away from me ( still not sure why )
• the girls that I caught ( really not sure why… after the fact )
• sunsets over the skyline drive
• roller coasters and thrill rides… amusement parks
• walks in the woods and seeing wild animals… chipmunks to deer
• cameras and flashlights … still true today
• dating would prove to be much, much better than marriage (early on)

Well… there’s a bit of the list. All fond memories of good times, good food, good friends and family. Hopefully I’ll never need to go back and read this in order to remember. Some of these things are still great today. The sunsets, crabs, shrimp, movies, and good friends. Some are even better. Some are simply cherished memories… still vivid after 30 some years… like finding out that girls really didn’t have cooties. Not much was a mystery to me back then… except for the girls… but like my dad use to say… that I really never understood until to got much older… “If I had only knew then, what I know now”. Could never understand …. “Playing hard to get” ( when they really liked you ) … “Good Girls always going for Bad Boys” ( when it never worked out ) …. “Bad Girls chasing Good Boys” ( and why we ran from them… well… could have had a little fun )  …. and why nothing with girls was ever simple or easy… and as most would attest… it never got any easier with age. Most enlightening book…. “Men are for Mars… Women are from Venus” … maybe they should make this required study in grades 8-12… surely couldn’t hurt…. maybe help solve some of the mystery’s of life.