A Simpler Life

1964, my brother Brian, cousin Janet, me, & sister Joanne on my neigbour's steps

The other night I had an idea to see if I could find the girls I was friends with in public school, mostly grades 3 through 6.  I only found 1 as the others have either married & their last names are changed , or they are  not on Facebook .

It was so weird to see Heather's picture, (the one I found), after all these years.  In my mind I pictured her a brunette with cute freckles & about 9 , however, she is 52 & blond now, but still has freckles!

Last night I couldn't sleep & I started to think about Heather, things we would do together, our group of friends etc.  That lead me to thinking about growing up in the 60's & 70's, & the fun we had, & how different it is today for kids.

I decided to write down some of my memories of my childhood :).......

The kids in our neighbourhood would get together & play 'move ups"  It is baseball & the gist of it is you start out as a fielder, then move up to 3rd base, then 2nd, then 1st, then pitcher, then a batter.  You get to stay a batter until you are out, at which time you have to go back as a fielder.  We would start out with just a few players & in no time the entire neighbourhood of kids would be joined in, so fun!

My dad & our neighbours dad would build a skating rink in the back yard in the winter, it would span between both yards, all the kids skated there.  Nowadays every house is separated by a fence of some sort.  We also had a hill in our back yard, it was "the spot" to go for tobogganing every night until bed time.

There was a garage station in behind our house, in the winter they would pile huge mounds of snow back there.  We would all go & crawl all over the mountains & build caves. I loved to climb on these huge snow piles!

There was a field of grass separating the back lane of our house with the garages parking lot.  One summer my brother set the grass on fire, what excitement as it was so close to the gas station. My brother got in big trouble for that one lol!

At  public school there was a "boys" side & a "girls" side for recess, seriously!! Boys & girls did not play together at recess.

I remember my street would get tarred once a year, it was a big hit with the kids, watching the big trucks come to tar the roads.

I also remember over head power wires that lined the streets of our neighbourhood, now they are mostly under ground.

We walked to school everyday, only kids in the country took a bus.  We also went home every day for lunch, only the country kids got to stay & eat at  school.

I remember walking to the rec center in the winter to skate. Mom would give us money to buy hot chocolate, it was so much fun.  The downstairs of the rec center was lined with benches  & they were totally filled with kids putting on their skates.  I can still smell the canteen  :)

Upstairs of the rec center was where I went once a week for Brownies , I was a leprechaun !

Every year there was a winter carnival there as well. The rec center has of course been torn down & replaced with a fancy one :(

Every Friday night there would be movie night in the auditorium of the school, it was super cheap , they would sell popcorn & everything.  It was always full with kids.

I have many many more memories, it was such a great time to be a kid.

My kindergarten picture below....Heather is the girl sitting in the second row, second from the left, with the bow on the front of her dress :)