of course, I also remember playing snake on my dad’s big bad new Tandy computer.

and “Sarah” playing on MTV constantly.

and the station wagon with the wide faux wood stripe down the side.

and Mouse Trap.
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I also remember days before the ATM machine! I would go to the bank with my mother on Fridays and she would need silence (from me) while she guessed how much money to take out for the weekend (being banks were closed from early Sat. till Monday morning) Once she calculated the amount, I was free to start talking in tangents again….and I did!!

Life before the ATM seems unbearable to me now. Could you imagine today’s world with no ATM’s? Scary!! I still don’t know how my parents survived those days of inconvenience.

I do wish we could go back to the days of the telephone BEFORE the answering machine. I don’t like being so accessible and accountable for every call made to me!! If they ever allow cells on the subway, I’m doomed!! It’s the only excuse left that makes sense for not picking up a call.

I really enjoyed reading this blog, you did a great job listing everything! A great trip down memory lane with lots of laughs. Thank you!!

I can still hear which song is “next” on my mixtape when I hear a particular 80s tune “purple rain… purple rain…”). You had to sit by the stereo for hours or- yes- DAYS to make those freakin’ things! And let’s not even get started on the 8-track. You’d be halfway through a song and have to “hold that thought” until you flipped the tape to the other side.

I grew up in Chicago, and my sister and brother and I used to play near the train tracks, which in our neighborhood ran alongside the Prairie Path, a miles-long trail that winds through Chicago and its suburbs and is rife with danger. One day, we found a machete lying on the side of the path and, after running home to report it to our parents, went about playing cops and robbers and other innocuous games for the remainder of the afternoon.

My siblings and I used to walk into “town” (the bustling metropolis of Wheaton, IL) to take in the $1.50 movie or visit the penny candy shop and spend 3.5 hours determining the best sugar-laden exchange for the $1.32 in our wallets.

I was 9 when I took my first solo excursion to Walt’s Groceries (across the train tracks of course) to purchase a critical 5 or 6 items. My son is 8 and I can’t imagine sending him “across the train tracks” to pick up groceries anytime soon. But then, my parents didn’t really love me.

Just kidding.

This was a great post, anyway. I wonder, has the world changed that much… or have we?