My old street in St. Louis suburbia reminds me SO MUCH of the street I live on now here in Kansas City suburbia. Both are cul-de-sacs, both are steep, long hills with a ball-eating sewer at the bottom. Most importantly there are ("were" as in the case of the '80's) kids galore! Back then, we were total hood-rats running around from 8 am until 9 pm... my mom rung a dinner bell (yes... you heard me right... a dinner bell like in Little House on the Prairie!) when it was time for the "Morgan Girls" to come inside (other moms just screamed!). We played kickball during the day, kick-the-can at dusk, ghosts in the graveyard at night - they were the best of times! My absolute fave was playing roller-rink (on the only flat, long & smoothly blacktopped driveway on the street). Someone would bring out their tape-player & "DJ" by accepting song requests (our faves were "Ghostbusters", "Let's Get Physical", and "Mr. Roboto") and announcing when it was "reverse skate", "girls in", "boys in" and "limbo time". The best part about it was we all played well with eachother. Boys/Girls, toddlers/grade-schoolers, the burn-outs (shocking, I know... but we did have that family)/the preps... it didn't matter... we were just having fun! The same happens now on our street & I wouldn't have it any other way!
A week ago, I went back home and visited with 3 of the 5 "kids" that lived two houses down from us (now ages 31, 29 and 25). Their parents still live there as do ours. We had a trip down memory lane (literally) as we laughed our arses off at all of the ridiculous things we used to do. I can only hope that in 30 years, Roman is still in touch with his current 63rd Street buddies.
So without futher adieu... the first pic I chose for Flashback Friday is a moldie-oldie from 29 years ago {gasp! Is she really that old?} I was 4 going on 25 - the year was 1979. Our family had the coolest swingset on the block (Wooden! not one of those rusty metal K-mart specials that tipped over if your chubby friend swung too high!). This pic cracks me up because all of the other kids are standing awkwardly in Venture-brand playclothes (the equivalent to today's Target Circo-brand) and I'm striking my best model pose decked out in a super-cute orange & white polka-dot halter-dress with ric-rac trim (Mom - did you make this or did it come from Chocolate Soup?), knee socks, red mary-janes {so NOT matching the orange... barf... can't believe my mom let me out of the house} and a bun in my hair! You can tell I was a boring, shy little tom-boy gal without a flair for the dramatic nor a sense of fashion. :)
Double click on the photo to see that snazzy dress up close! And if my mom indeed did make it, she'll start taking orders and I'll finally have fulfilled my dreams of becoming a model! From L to R: my sis, Rachel, Scott, Amy, Me & Liesel. We missed you this past weekend, Amy!
2 comments:
Great photo---no, I did NOT make the dress. I think it was a Marshall's special. You always had your own flair for fashion and never let the activity get in the way of a fashion statement.
hilar! [what is up with my outfit? i look like a boy] you SO remind me of mariah's daughter mia!
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