playing

Jan 16, 2019

Televisions were in most but not all homes. The shows were limited and no one watched all night like we do today. So what we watched at night we used during the day we inspire our play. After westerns like Maverick, Sugarfoot and  Cheyenne, we would roam the range the next day. We had felt cowboy hats and the swingset swings and glider would double for horses. At Mom‘s parents house, we would play 77 Sunset Strip, using grandpa’s stand up radio as a switchboard and communication device. I heard that after we would leave, Grandpa would complain that those darned kids changed all his stations again.
We would make our front porch into a pirate ship, boarding it by climbing over the railings, walking the plank to the deep recesses of the ocean below...ok it was just the lawn, but it seemed pretty scary when jumping down.
We saw variety shows and would do skits and play act, with old blankets for curtains. We all had our share of old clothes, including ball gowns and accessories to use for costuming and dress up.
At one point, Mary and I decided to be tree doctors and would peel the bark off the lilac bush in the yard and cover it with water and leaves to heal... I believe we killed the bush. That never happened on tv.
There was hopscotch, red rover and sneak up.
Usually we had to be home and inside when the street lights went on. On the rare occasion that we were out after dark, we played hide and go seek or night time tag.
We rode our bikes and roller skated. We walked to friends’  houses and back again. We giggled and told stories. We read books, played games and did jigsaw puzzles.

Young people today wonder what we did before video games and the internet. We lived! Oh, we lived  like kids today can only imagine.