Warm & Fuzzies

Yesterday I posted this picture on FB.  A woman that I grew up with ID'd the location & mentioned it was near an alley where she rode her bike nearly every day for years. Another friend chimed in about the alley that she & I rode bikes in.  35 comments later... those memories were still flowing.

My life circa 1978:

I played with ALL the neighborhood kids. There was a huge posse. Me, Stacey, Kerry, Lisa, Brenda, Erin, Billy, Vincey, Ricky, Matthew and whoever else I'm totally forgetting.

Our backyards all faced the same one block stretch of alley so we rode bikes and had rock fights.  We climbed on top of sheds and played JAWS. There were about 8 Princess Leia's running around defending territory with Luke(Billy) & Han(Matthew). We fought with empty Windex bottles filled with water and all of the Leia's were captured by the Storm Troopers (Vincey, Ricky & their other brothers).  That was a nightly game that probably went on for a year.

We collected pieces of smashed beer bottles because we thought the glass was pretty. (really, we did.)

My backyard had a trellis with red roses and even then, I HATED the smell of them.

The lady on the corner was nicknamed "Miff" (Matthew's aunt) & she fed us all hot dogs daily.

Next door to us lived to women, Olga & Mary. Olga sold makeup in a department store and Mary...wore overalls and had a buzzcut. I used to play with Olga's Russian Tea Dolls and watch Emergency! with Mary.  Olga was always cooking while Mary repaired & built everything. Of course I now totally get that they were a couple.

There was another lady named Mary with bird legs & a powder blue caddilac. Hell hath no fury like 90 year old Mary if you happened to be seen with a foot in her driveway. We came up with a million ways to play Star Wars while avoiding running thru her yard. Back then all the yards pretty much connected.

My parents had a huge downstairs apartment and the landlord and his wife was upstairs. I was up with them almost every night. We would sit out on their upstairs porch and watch the stars while eating M&M's. I think I watched a lot of Hee Haw with them too- and loved it!

I look at that picture up there and I wonder what they are going to remember most in 30 years!  I just hope that when they do think back it makes them smile as much as I do now.

**By the way, the waiting was WELL worth it today :)

Listening To:  Christina Aguilera's Impossible