In an effort to bring a lighter tone this week, I share with you a Facebook posting from ThisBlewMyMind.com. I hope it takes you back and brings a smile or two!

Close your eyes and go back. Go back before the internet or PC or the Mac. Before semi-automatics and crack. Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari.

Before cell phones, CDs, DVDs, voicemail and email. Go way, way back.

I’m talking about hide and seak at dusk, Red Light Green Light, Red Rover Red Rover, Playing kick ball and dodge ball until the first, no second, not third street light came on. Ring around the Rosie, London Bridge, Hot Potato, Hopscotch, jump rope, You’re It!

Parents stood n the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home-no pagers or cell phones.

Take one giant step…may I? Seeing shapes in the clouds. Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the windows open. The sound of crickets.

Running through the sprinkler. Cereal boxes with that great prize at the bottom. Cracker jacks with the same thing. Ice pops with two ticks you could break and share with a friend.

But wait, there’s more….

Watching Saturday morning cartoons. Tom and Jerry, Serial adventures, Captain Midnight, Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Boston Blackie.

Catching lightning bugs in a jar.

Christmas morning. Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses. Climbing trees. Swinging as high as you could in those long swings to try and reach the sky. A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers.

Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Being tired from playing!

Work meant taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, washing the car or doing the dishes.

Your first crush. Your first kiss (the one where you kept your mouth closed and your eyes open).

Rainy days at school and the smell of damp concrete and chalk erasers.

Kool Aid was the drink of the summer. So was a swig from the garden hose.

Giving your friends a ride on the handlebars of your bike. Attaching pieces of cardboard to your bike frame to rub against your spokes.

Wearing new shoes on the first day of school. Class field trips with soggy sandwiches.

When nearly everyone’s mom was at home when the kids got there from school.

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance and another quarter, a miracle!

When any parent could discipline any kid or feed him or use him to carry groceries. And nobody, not even the kids, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home.

Basically we were in fear for our lives but it wasn’t because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. We simply did not want our parents mad at us.

Let’s go back to the time when decisions were made by going “eeny meeny miney mo” and mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming “Do over!”

Race issues meant arguing about who ran the fastest. The worst embarrassment was getting picked last for a team and water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

Life during a simpler and more pleasant time!