Grownups

I recently watched the new Adam Sandler movie Grownups . I love, love, loved it! That's almost exactly like it was growing up for me. Playing out side in the dirt on long summer days. Not wanting to come in at dark because I was too busy chasing lightening bugs. Making mud pies and eating apples right off my Grandpa's tree (without washing them  first). I drank water straight out of the hose, not the bottle.  I played in the creek and took long trips over my Uncle Tob's farm with my cousin Tootie looking for arrow heads. I know what it feels like to step in cow poo with bare feet!  My other cousin Cindy use to make me hoola skirts with limbs from the old willow tree in front of the house.  My siblings and I grew up without cell phones, DVD's, computers, video chat, Nintendo, Playstations and surround sound. Our family had one TV in the den and only 5 channels.My Mother smoked when she was pregnant and took aspirin for a headache. There were no locked doors or child proof cabinets. I rode my bike without a helmet and rode in the back of the truck every chance I got.

I can remember my Grandfather's work shop. He would spend hours in there working on stuff and sometimes I would help. It didn't matter that I was a girl. He viewed me and my cousins the same.....he treated us ALL like boys! So, I was a very big tom boy growing up. I hung tobacco, put up hay and fenced right along with the rest. One day I walked in the shop and asked my Grandpa for some tools because I wanted to build a fort down by the woods. He told me no and to run along a play. I was determined so I proceeded to build anyway. I had a hatchet (don't ask me why I owned a hatchet) that I used to cut down small trees. I used vines or bailing twine to tie the logs together. After about 3 hours of working on my "project" I see my Grandpa walking through the field towards me with something in this hand. I figuring at this point I'm in big trouble for cutting down trees but he just walked up with a coffee can full of nails, a hammer and a little hand saw. He sat the items down, turned and walked off without a word.

My generation and the one before survived being put to bed on our tummies in cribs painted with lead based paint. We fell out of trees, broke bones, got in fights and no lawsuits were ever filed. We walked to friends houses by ourselves. Tried out for little league and those of us who didn't make it just had to deal with disappointment. We ate biscuits and gravy every morning for breakfast, drank a gallon of Kool Aid a day and never worried about getting fat. Germs were never considered when sharing your ice cream with your best bud. What Mama said was gospel and we got our butts busted on a regular basis.  Sunday was a day of rest and spending time with family in church.

And out of this generation has come some of the best innovators of all time all because we had the freedom to try, fail and try again in a time before lawyers and government regulated the life out of us.  Before they took God out of our schools and hope from our lives. I'm proud to have grown up in this time and wish my kids had the experiences that I had in a time that was more innocent than now. It scares me to think of what kind of world my kid's kids are going to grown up in....

So, if you got to grow up in the 50's, 60's or 70's...rejoice for being one of the last generations of kids being kids! Tell stories, share memories and pass down favorite times in your life. Let them know how good WE had it.........