Everyone Did Not Have a Tv Or a Car

When I was your age I walked sixty two miles to school and back Because our horse was dead, or given only to my brothers. We did not get to wear pants, even if our legs were red with frost. Until 1960 when they finally let us wear them under dresses. If we did not take them off at school we were whipped with belts. We put MATHEMATICS at the top of arithmetic papers. Math to you. We did not have pre-algebra until doctor’s college. We would zoom around on dangerous motorcycles without helmets. Daring the pavement or semis to kill us. They got some of us but not all. No one thought to drink water. We had milk and soda pop. Our druggist put cherry into our Coke, and we thought we were grown. I read an Archie comic book a week, and paid for it with my money. Money I earned babysitting or mowing lawns. When I was your age everyone did not have a car or a TV set. Everything on the TV set was in grayscale until 1964 in my world. Uncle asked “What color is it?” When Dad told him we got a colored TV. Underdog was the first cartoon I ever saw in color when I was your age. I had chores, and I did them. I also knew to respect my elders. I knew when adults were having a conversation, I had better get lost. Did not get to watch some TV shows, and there was no TV in my room. If I wanted to be entertained, I read Trixie Belden or Nancy Drew.