Hey all...Todays thought...My younger days and how things change so much as you get older. Now that is not to say that I am old...but...ya know.

Things I remember as a kid...the first Slip and Slide, my daddy was my hero, phone calls were just a dime, stamps were just $0.13, it was an outrage that gas went to $0.50 a gallon and cigarettes went up to $2.00 a pack, movies only had previews of 1 or 2 other movies, mosquito's were just a neusence...and not a disease carrier, AIDS was not even heard of, there was no such thing as reality tv, the evening news and a hot cup of coffee was just completely gross and strange and mostly...being a kid...you had no worries at all except maybe whether or not you were going to make the bus to school. It was a simpler time back then.

My hero. My daddy was a firefighter when I was younger. He doesn't do it any more since we've moved, but he was Fire Captain of Genesee Township 2 fire station. It was right behind our house and he had a little radio that would go off to let him know there was a fire in the area or someone needed his assistance. He never knew it but I could hear it go off and would be lying there in bed wide awake. I would see the car pull out of the driveway in the wee hours of the morning and would watch him go. The main road could be seen from my bedroom window and I could hear the sirens of both the fire station and my daddys fire truck. I would set at my window and would hear the blaring stop from the station and hear the truck start and wait to see if he was going to go East by the house or West the opposite direction on the main road. If they went by the house I could see the lights of the truck go down the road. If the went the other direction of corse the sirens of the truck would be come less effective until gone from my hearing. I would then crawl back into bed and go to sleep until he got home.

I...yes its true...I'm a smoker. I remember when my daddy used to say that he was not going to buy cigarettes if they got above $2.00 per pack. Well...he still smokes...as do I (Nobody get this wrong in thinking that I smoke because I had seen him do it as a kid. I made that choice on my own!!!). My cigarettes are now $4.21 a pack.

Gas. I now pay for my own gas. I remeber getting mad at my mama when she grocery shopped because of the fact that she would not buy the expensive cereal with marshmallows and things like that. Well now I understand. It was becaue of gas prices. It is now $1.65 a gallon right now. The cheapest I ever remember putting my own gas in my own car was about 7 years ago...it was unusually low at a whopping $0.89 per gallon. What happened?

Oh, and does anybody remember when you went into a movie theater for $2.75 to see a premium movie and there were only 2...maybe 3 movie previews that lasted maybe 6-10 minutes before the movie actually got underway. Now you go to a movie theater. Its $7.75 to get in and you have 15-20 minutes of previews of movies...shows...and plain tv commercials before the movie gets underway. And I don't know about where everyone else is...but a drive-in theater is non existant any more here.

Lastly...the evening news and a hot cup of coffee. I could not stand coffee in the morning but sometimes daddy would let me drink it and with a ton of sugar and milk I would tough it out to look like a big girl for him. Well I have to give my daddy props because though I still drink a little coffee with my cream and sugar...I cannot function without a cup of coffee in the morning. And the evening news. I try to watch it as much as possible. You know how it is when you get busy with things in life. But it is no longer strange to me.

I end this blog with a dedication to my child hood. I had a great childhood and miss it emensly. But I guess thats what happens when you grow up huh...