Yes, it’s the Boogie Woogie....and boy did we boogie or was it  woogie...any way we had a blast.  Every day after school, we all walked to the local restaurant, ordered a coke and candy bar, (cost:15cents) put a quarter in the juke box (5 plays for that quarter) and talked and laughed...until it was time to go home and watch American Bandstand.

           I miss those days....I have been accussed of living in the past, and I’m afraid I’m guilty...When I was a kid, people used to talk about the “good ol’ days” and I used to roll my eyes and move on, not knowing or caring what they meant.  Not any more..that expression has taken on a whole new meaning.  And though I don’t talk about them all that much, I do think about them and now realize what those days can come to mean.  It’s funny... I don’t miss the music, I can always find an “oldies” station, and I don’t miss the lower cost of living, wages have increased too, and I sure don’t miss cloth diapers, especially when my three grandsons came along.

          Don’t misunderstand me, technology is wonderful. The advances we’ve made in medicine are life saving wonders. Communication via the Internet is beyond description...and there are many more modern day improvements that have made our lives..better.

           But what I look back on are the days of a bunch of kids  catchin’ lightening bugs together, going on family picnics when it’s not the Fourth of July, and actually running into other familes, doing the same thing. Kids playing hide and seek, kicking the tin can, and walking up town for a 5 cent popsicle without having to look over their shoulder for anything other than a stray cat.

            I miss heading out for vacation, and never dreaming of locking your doors, in case a neighbor might need something while you were gone.  I miss walking around the neighborhood in the evenings and seeing people sitting on their porches--calling for you to come sit a while.  I miss the days when there were prayers in school...God was taken out for a few...and has been replaced by guns.  Something’s not right with that picture.

            I suppose I could go on, but enough already. Life is good. It’s what we make of it. There is to everything a season.  Perhaps mine dwells in childhood memories. So be it.  I like those memories.  And even though it’s been said before, for me, they really were the best...good ol’ days.