From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Today’s drippy, gray weather is nothing like the winter weather I experienced back in 1962 when stiff winds, blowing snow and sustained sub-zero temperatures crippled my hometown of Glenwood for several days at a time. I hoped for snow days from school when buses couldn’t run and Mom let me snuggle in my flannel pajamas in bed a bit longer.

Don’t get me wrong…I loved school. All my friends were there, but once in a while a break felt good when we could play outdoors all day long in the falling snow making forts and snow angels. I remember at least one winter when the snow drifts were so immense that kids sledding up on the NP hill got caught in an avalanche. The fire department was called to rescue those kids…a scary ordeal!

No matter how low the temperatures dove, kids gathered at the skating rink to skate figure eights, the grapevine and line up to play Crack the Whip. When our cheeks froze to white patches,  we’d go inside to huddle by the stove belching out heat in the warming house. A friend would “pull” our skates to alleviate the pressure of our crowded frozen toes.  Our wet mittens were soaked with icy frozen pebbles (we called them dingleberries for some weird reason), and our sweaty stocking caps and scarves were hung to dry near the stove. Kids wore wool sweaters and padded snow pants so we stayed plenty warm. We skated and threw each other in the snow banks all day until the whistle blew from the fire station announcing it was supper time…better race home fast.

It was a given that families sat at the kitchen table for meals. Mom aways said, “Here’s to people who eat on time” when we sat down to pray our daily prayer “Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest. Let this food to us to blessed. Amen.” Supper was always a hearty soup or a beef or pork roast, potatoes and veggies, either corn or beans. I hated peas so she didn’t serve those green little balls.

Some people today think that we kids of the fifties and sixties didn’t have it so good since we had no toys of technology and electronic gadgets. I strongly disagree.

Our friends lived down the street, a bike ride or quick walk away from our houses. Most of us had radios and record players. We had a big Philco radio in our dining room where I listened to Amos ’n Andy, Abbott & Costello, Fibber NcGee & Molly, Minnie Pearl or Dragnet.

Some fearless kids listened to Inner Sanctum Mysteries, but not me. I didn’t like those scary episodes. We loved playing board game, which are popular again for families today. We played endless games of Monopoly and Scrabble, card games  and played outdoors rolling down the hill, climbing trees and swinging high in the swings many of us had in our backyards.

The library was a favorite place for teens to meet each other and hang out whispering, driving Mrs. Serrin the librarian to shush us sternly. We girls flirted with boys and attempted to check out books from forbidden sections of age-appropriate books.

A few kids had extra pounds, but nobody was obese that I remember. Some were simply “big boned” as Mom would say. Most of us were skinny from running all day at the beach or tennis court or ball fields. We loved to dance the twist or the bunny hop at the Lakeside Pavilion on teen hop nights as well as the school dances in the small gym after football and basketball games, which everybody attended. School spirit was infectious!

We walked or rode bikes everywhere, paddled canoes and skied at the ski hill. We called each other on the dial telephone; nobody had cell phones. They hadn’t been invented. We actually talked to each other and looked at each other when we conversed. No computers, Facebook, Twitter or any electronic device. We were active, smiling kids. We were busy spending our time at school, sports, music lessons and part time jobs at the grocery and drug stores or theatre in downtown Glenwood. We earned our spending money babysitting and shoveling snow or mowing lawns. We spent money for movie tickets and cokes at Setters’ Drug Store. I still have memories of sipping cherry cokes as I spun on my stool at the counter trading stories with Bonnie, Janet and Diane who worked there.

Rarely did we watch TV. Black and white TVs with snowy reception and one channel were a treat if our family could afford one. We loved playing outdoors every season, but if the weather was really bad, we read and played board games or used our imginations creating plays. We were skinny kids not worried about calories or gaining weight. We just wanted to have fun.

We were lucky kids of the fifties and sixties. What a great time to grow up.

   

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.