Moms - I don't remember Mercurochrome stinging - but Merthiolate sure did! Almost as bad as Iodine. My poor daddy always got the job of cleaning our scraped knees and applying the red stuff. He would blow and blow on it so it wouldn't sting. The poor man almost hyperventilated each time!
I love those rememberances, Boobsy.
I get transported back to summer vacations. We would LIVE outside, on our bikes, all day long. We'd get hungry around lunch time and Mom was home to fix us a sandwich and a bowl of soup. Then we'd run out again and stay out until Dad was due home from work. (You always knew from the setting sun that Dad was due home). You'd run back in, wash up, and the whole family would sit around the table, in the kitchen, and TALK TO EACH OTHER! There were no radios or TVs on - there was just us. When someone asked 'how was your day?' they meant it. And they listened when you answered.
And people never called during the dinner hours. It was rude to do so. So you didn't have to worry about your one phone - the large black object sitting on its own table - ringing until dinner was over.
We would have ball games out in the street. No one would stop us because who ever heard of anyone driving through with kids in the street? If someone did come, we'd all clear out for them right away - they never had to wait more than a minute.
Sometimes a couple of the kids would decide to go exploring in the woods and we'd pack a lunch - Usually something exotic like a tomato sandwich. Mom would slice up one of the tomatoes from the garden, put it on some Wonder Bread, and slap on some mayonnaise and off we'd go.
Then there were the grasshopper or tree toad jumping contests. You'd find the biggest hopper or toad you could find and we'd line them up and try to get them to hop. (Of course they never jumped in the right direction. They always headed immediately for the grass and freedom!)
Looking for 4-leaf clovers in the grass, pulling off honeysuckle flowers or clover and sucking the honey at the base, weaving grass necklaces with buttercups woven in, making mud pies and playing "King of the world!" after a rain storm. (The King could make it rain again - by discretely shaking the tree everyone was standing under).
And the best time - Halloween! The town was turned over to the kids. Adults stayed home to hand out candy and home made popcorn balls. DELICIOUS! And safe. The very idea of purposely making a child sick or endangering them never crossed a mind.
I miss those times - more and more every day.
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mamie4 5/14/03
