What do you remember most about your childhood or growning up (neighbors, father)
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The food memories remind me of how many times I was banished from the dinner table for refusing to eat chow mein or liver. For better or worse my children will never know the agony of the stove timer ticking while they try to swallow some disgusting piece of food without vomiting right it back up again.
I don't remember Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, but I do recall Johnny Carson keeping my terror level at an acceptable level when I was babysitting late into the night.
Regarding the occult, I definitely remember looking for Bloody Mary, attending a seance or two, chanting "light as a feather, stiff as a board" and spinning Eagles records backwards in search of Satanic messages, lol.
The food memories remind me of how many times I was banished from the dinner table for refusing to eat chow mein or liver. For better or worse my children will never know the agony of the stove timer ticking while they try to swallow some disgusting piece of food without vomiting right it back up again.
I don't remember Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, but I do recall Johnny Carson keeping my terror level at an acceptable level when I was babysitting late into the night.
Regarding the occult, I definitely remember looking for Bloody Mary, attending a seance or two, chanting "light as a feather, stiff as a board" and spinning Eagles records backwards in search of Satanic messages, lol.
Yeah, about the occult... I had a collection of occult books. It seemed I was searching for something, although what I was really interested in was philosophy and ideas, not spooky rituals and such. At some point as a teenager I decided that I liked Anton LaVey (leader of the Satanic Church of "Hotel California" fame) and I wore an inverted pentagram necklace nonstop for years. I still have it, though only for sentimental reasons. I'm not into that anymore. I finally got around to reading "The Satanic Witch" and that put me off for good. Basically said that a female follower of that philosophy should always wear heels and makeup and use her wiles to get whatever she wants, and I didn't like that. I use my personality to get what I want, or my hard work, or I go without it. I'm not trying to trick anyone with sexuality. That seems pretty weak to me.
But of course I had friends in high school who were into Wicca or whatever, and they were forever going on about chakras and candles and crystals, fooling with Ouija boards in the woods behind the school. I thought it was silly and I'd usually wander off and look for a place to take a nap. I could sleep just about anywhere. My favorite spot was a giant of a tree that had fallen across a creek, it was broad and mossy and pleasant and I remember sprawling on it like a leopard in a black leather trench coat and listening to the sounds of the water and the wind in the leaves.
Even then I had begun to discover that there was no established religion that was acceptable to me. I finally just accepted that what suits me is a general notion of faith in a higher power, an appreciation and acceptance of those things that simply are. I don't need a book or a savior to validate it. I know in my heart when my actions are right or wrong.
Funny thing though, for a spooky teenager, when I was a kid younger than that I loved my Lisa Frank and unicorns and brilliant neon colored anything. I never stopped loving stickers, and even though I don't wear it, I always feel compelled to admire the colors of any given nail polish display in a store.
I was born in the late 50s and grew up in the 60s and 70s. After reading some of these stories, I feel very sorry for what many of you had to endure.
My childhood was a typical 60s middle to upper middle class childhood. We first lived in a "development" (they call them "subdivisions" now), of brightly colored split level homes and winding lanes with euphonic names such as Split Oak Court. or Hill Drive. It was great for bike riding. We did a lot of that. Behind our subdivision was a woods and a pond. We would explore the woods and catch tadpoles in the pond. There was an old shack back there and we made it into a club house.
I remember having a transistor radio and all of the great 60s music. And my older cousins who gave me their old 45 records.
Everyone in our neighborhood was allowed to stay out late in the Summer. Moms didn't hover.
When I was in third grade a group of us neighborhood girls asked our parents if we could walk to the village so we could go to the big 5 and 10 and the ice cream shop. We walked past a large woods and a disheveled man yelled "Girls! Lookee here!" "Come on over! I wanna show you something!" We listened to adults back then. Even strange disheveled ones. As we started to cross the street we realized that he was exposing himself! We all screamed and ran back to theother side of the street. We vowed not to tell our parents. Laughed about it. Bought junkie jewelry and perfume at the 5 and ten, then had ice cream sodas. From then on all we had to say was "Lookee here!" and all of us would dissolve in gales of laughter. We kept our secret.
I remember getting up early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons. In my area, they first played the star spangled banner. My sister and I would stand for that part, with our hands on our hearts. The next show was "The Modern Farmer" i a program featuring the latest in farm equipment. We watched it anyway;. THEN came the cartoons!
I think they were on until noon.
My favorite television shows were "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Genie". I actually thought of those as career options, at the time. I also thought of being a "Secret Agent".
I'm glad that I grew up during the "Wonder Years" and those times were magical for me.
I feel sorry for all of you trick-or-treaters that got apples. Apples are right up there with pencils and religious tracts on Halloween.
I vividly remember the Sears Wish Book featuring the Dennis the Menace cartoons every few pages. I spent a lot of time circling dozens of items in the catalog every Christmas, but all these years later I seem to recall the things I didn't get rather than the ones I did. Still waiting for the purple stingray bike with the flower basket; that was the Holy Grail of Christmas presents for a little girl circa 1970.
didn't we look forward to Halloween, us kids could go anywhere, and to the nicer houses, that gave out ring dings or devil dogs, we brought a change of face mask and went to the house twice..
one neighborhood house gave out quarters!! and one place, he must have forgot it was Halloween, he opened the door, we said trick or treat, he said oh shyt
then he threw 2 cigarettes in each of our candy bags ...
didn't we laugh !!
and the older brothers took the cigarettes and tried to smoke them..
its funny, during some of the tougher times growing up, many of us still have some fun or good memories
whole different world of today
didn't we look forward to Halloween, us kids could go anywhere, and to the nicer houses, that gave out ring dings or devil dogs, we brought a change of face mask and went to the house twice..
one neighborhood house gave out quarters!! and one place, he must have forgot it was Halloween, he opened the door, we said trick or treat, he said oh shyt
then he threw 2 cigarettes in each of our candy bags ...
didn't we laugh !!
and the older brothers took the cigarettes and tried to smoke them..
its funny, during some of the tougher times growing up, many of us still have some fun or good memories
whole different world of today
yanno, it's funny, but I never enjoyed Halloween, and there are so many people who love it....but for me, I always felt stupid, even to this day, dressing up? And I don't know why, silly, isn't it....but my cousins love it and go all out with decorations and stuff....
didn't we look forward to Halloween, us kids could go anywhere, and to the nicer houses, that gave out ring dings or devil dogs, we brought a change of face mask and went to the house twice..
one neighborhood house gave out quarters!! and one place, he must have forgot it was Halloween, he opened the door, we said trick or treat, he said oh shyt
then he threw 2 cigarettes in each of our candy bags ...
didn't we laugh !!
and the older brothers took the cigarettes and tried to smoke them..
its funny, during some of the tougher times growing up, many of us still have some fun or good memories
whole different world of today
YES! Halloween was the BEST! At five we were all allowed to go out with a group of kids. The best house baked home made cookies! They gave everyone three and they were so good! Oatmeal Chocolate Chips. They gave us cups of hot cider too!
No parents were worried that anyone was going to poison us, And moms did not drive slowly beside kids when they trick or treated.
I always loved this time of year! My dad would pile us into the station wagon on the first weekend of October to get pumpkins. He also told great scary ghost stories.
He's dying now. He has MSA (multiple systems atrophy) So, writing this is reminding me of him and all of those Octobers and his great scary stories.
Yeah, about the occult... I had a collection of occult books. It seemed I was searching for something, although what I was really interested in was philosophy and ideas, not spooky rituals and such. At some point as a teenager I decided that I liked Anton LaVey (leader of the Satanic Church of "Hotel California" fame) and I wore an inverted pentagram necklace nonstop for years. I still have it, though only for sentimental reasons. I'm not into that anymore. I finally got around to reading "The Satanic Witch" and that put me off for good. Basically said that a female follower of that philosophy should always wear heels and makeup and use her wiles to get whatever she wants, and I didn't like that. I use my personality to get what I want, or my hard work, or I go without it. I'm not trying to trick anyone with sexuality. That seems pretty weak to me.
But of course I had friends in high school who were into Wicca or whatever, and they were forever going on about chakras and candles and crystals, fooling with Ouija boards in the woods behind the school. I thought it was silly and I'd usually wander off and look for a place to take a nap. I could sleep just about anywhere. My favorite spot was a giant of a tree that had fallen across a creek, it was broad and mossy and pleasant and I remember sprawling on it like a leopard in a black leather trench coat and listening to the sounds of the water and the wind in the leaves.
Even then I had begun to discover that there was no established religion that was acceptable to me. I finally just accepted that what suits me is a general notion of faith in a higher power, an appreciation and acceptance of those things that simply are. I don't need a book or a savior to validate it. I know in my heart when my actions are right or wrong.
Funny thing though, for a spooky teenager, when I was a kid younger than that I loved my Lisa Frank and unicorns and brilliant neon colored anything. I never stopped loving stickers, and even though I don't wear it, I always feel compelled to admire the colors of any given nail polish display in a store.
I've always been interested in the "supernatural." Actually, I think a lot of what we call supernatural is actually just natural but we just can't quite accept it.
I don't follow any organized religion either, but I also can't understand how some people deny that there is some kind of higher power. It's not like we're in complete control of life and death here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12
I was born in the late 50s and grew up in the 60s and 70s. After reading some of these stories, I feel very sorry for what many of you had to endure.
My childhood was a typical 60s middle to upper middle class childhood. We first lived in a "development" (they call them "subdivisions" now), of brightly colored split level homes and winding lanes with euphonic names such as Split Oak Court. or Hill Drive. It was great for bike riding. We did a lot of that. Behind our subdivision was a woods and a pond. We would explore the woods and catch tadpoles in the pond. There was an old shack back there and we made it into a club house.
I remember having a transistor radio and all of the great 60s music. And my older cousins who gave me their old 45 records.
Everyone in our neighborhood was allowed to stay out late in the Summer. Moms didn't hover.
When I was in third grade a group of us neighborhood girls asked our parents if we could walk to the village so we could go to the big 5 and 10 and the ice cream shop. We walked past a large woods and a disheveled man yelled "Girls! Lookee here!" "Come on over! I wanna show you something!" We listened to adults back then. Even strange disheveled ones. As we started to cross the street we realized that he was exposing himself! We all screamed and ran back to theother side of the street. We vowed not to tell our parents. Laughed about it. Bought junkie jewelry and perfume at the 5 and ten, then had ice cream sodas. From then on all we had to say was "Lookee here!" and all of us would dissolve in gales of laughter. We kept our secret.
I remember getting up early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons. In my area, they first played the star spangled banner. My sister and I would stand for that part, with our hands on our hearts. The next show was "The Modern Farmer" i a program featuring the latest in farm equipment. We watched it anyway;. THEN came the cartoons!
I think they were on until noon.
My favorite television shows were "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Genie". I actually thought of those as career options, at the time. I also thought of being a "Secret Agent".
I'm glad that I grew up during the "Wonder Years" and those times were magical for me.
I think just about every street name in my home town is named after a tree, lol.
One of my brothers gave me all of his old 45 records. He passed away earlier this year. I can't think of any better reminder of him than to have all of his old 45s. He was the one who got me into The Beatles, Kiss, Alice Cooper...
Quote:
Originally Posted by mainebrokerman
didn't we look forward to Halloween, us kids could go anywhere, and to the nicer houses, that gave out ring dings or devil dogs, we brought a change of face mask and went to the house twice..
one neighborhood house gave out quarters!! and one place, he must have forgot it was Halloween, he opened the door, we said trick or treat, he said oh shyt then he threw 2 cigarettes in each of our candy bags ... didn't we laugh !!
and the older brothers took the cigarettes and tried to smoke them..
its funny, during some of the tougher times growing up, many of us still have some fun or good memories
whole different world of today
Lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cremebrulee
yanno, it's funny, but I never enjoyed Halloween, and there are so many people who love it....but for me, I always felt stupid, even to this day, dressing up? And I don't know why, silly, isn't it....but my cousins love it and go all out with decorations and stuff....
Yeah, I don't get the whole Halloween thing either. Lots of people say it's their favorite holiday. Is it just because you get to pretend like you're someone else? I dunno...
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