…I was little, the dog food we bought looked so much like hamburger patties that I would panic at the thought of my mom mistakenly grilling up Gaines Burgers for our dinner.

* * * * *

…I’d race home after school, grab a MoonPie, mix some Hershey’s Syrup into a glass of milk, and plunk down in front of the TV to watch Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows.

* * * * *

…it took 30 minutes in the morning to shower and dress? Now I need 30 minutes just to get out of bed.

* * * * *

…Saturday mornings meant getting up early, mixing some Ovaltine, and watching hours of cartoons?

     

* * * * *

…black and orange construction paper, plus the autumn crisp in the air, brought on shivers of anticipation for making pumpkin decorations and preparing for Halloween?

* * * * *

…summer was over and you were getting ready to go back to school? The most important decision you faced was what to wear on your first day.

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…school was on recess and summer days seemed endless.

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…we mixed iodine with baby oil and slathered it all over ourselves, sizzling for hours in the summer sun?

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…Dorothy Hamill introduced us to her short and sassy wedge haircut and a new move dubbed “the Hamill camel?”

* * * * *

…snowfall meant excitement – a day off from school, snowball fights, making snow angels, and building igloos? Now, it means shoveling walkways, driving cautiously, and trying not to fall on the ice.

* * * * *

…our Christmas trees were aluminum and our ornaments were painted, blown glass?

* * * * *

…leaves by the side of the road could provide hours of entertainment? An entire afternoon could be spent running and jumping into the pile.

* * * * *

…you could spend less than a dollar and pick up a 45 with your new song-of-the-week? Hours could be spent listening to all of your favorites, dropping one at a time from the stack you loaded on the turntable.

* * * * *

…summer nights meant a double-feature at the drive-in movies with your buddies? The metal speaker hooked on the car window was tinny and hard to hear, but it didn’t matter. It was part of the experience.

* * * * *

…you’d slip roller skates on the bottom of your sneakers and skate to the neighborhood candy store to buy Pop Rocks and Bottle Caps.

* * * * *

…chasing fireflies at dusk meant that summer was really here.

* * * * *

…Diane Keaton as Annie Hall started a fashion craze, popularizing the layered style of mannish blazers over vests, with billowy trousers or long skirts. The look was completed with a man’s tie, boots, and often a hat.

* * * * *

…John Travolta strutted onto the big screen and ignited the disco phenomenon? Teenage girls swooned when he cleared the dance floor with his moves, and the Bee Gees’ soundtrack earned three Grammy Awards and spawned multiple number one hit singles. Happy 40th Anniversary!

* * * * *

…a beautiful, sugar egg diorama would be the centerpiece of your Easter basket? I got one when I was six-years-old and kept it for forty years.  I finally had to let it go because it fell apart.

* * * * *

…in elementary school, we would color pictures of March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb? Proudly decorating the classrooms with our art was how we welcomed spring.

* * * * *

…we were liberated from those burdensome rotary phones and pop art began influencing household goods, bringing us the fun and playful donut phones by Sculptura? What teenage girl didn’t covet one of these in her room?

* * * * *

…baton twirling was considered a sport, and you couldn’t wait to dress up in pompoms, plumes, and your snazzy uniform?

* * * * *

…you agonized over which Valentine’s Day card to give the boy or girl you had a crush on in your fifth-grade class?

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…you couldn’t wait to get in bed so you could hide under the covers with a flashlight and your favorite book?

* * * * *

…snow storms were fun and exciting before they became work and a big pain?

* * * * *

…”sleeping in” meant sleeping past 7:30 in the morning?

* * * * * 

…”youth sports” meant a neighborhood pick-up game of baseball after school?

* * * * *

…the more strands of tinsel you added to your Christmas tree, the more beautiful it became?

* * * * *

…this show confronted some of the biggest political and social issues of the 1970s? As a child, I didn’t recognize how brilliant it was but in 2013, TV Guide ranked it as the fourth-greatest show of all time.

* * * * *

…Thanksgiving decorations were a melted plastic turkey hanging in the window and a honeycomb pop-up turkey in the middle of the dinner table?

* * * * *

…you saw Tim Curry for the first time in fishnet stockings? The campy sci-fi parody became a cult classic when it began showing as a “midnight movie” and has inspired audience participation, theater performances, a remake, and annual conventions.

* * * * *

…there were only four channels on the television? Saturday mornings were all about the cartoons and, on Sundays, we waited eagerly for the comics from the newspaper. That’s when Silly Putty became your favorite toy.

* * * * *

…you’d crank up the stereo when “your” song came on? The music spoke to your tumultuous teenage soul and every emotion was precisely chronicled by your favorite bands.

          

* * * * *

…Marcia Brady set the fashion standard and you were excited to wear all of your new school outfits that followed her influence?

* * * * *

It only took two weeks to exhaust your supply and then your new clothes were placed into rotation with all of clothes from last year that still fit.

                                       

* * * * *

…the last days of August zipped by faster and faster? Those dreaded words, “back to school,” brought on constant low-grade nausea and and an impending dread of your lost freedom. You could deny it, ignore it, pretend that the unstructured days of bike riding with friends and nights playing hide ‘n seek would last forever. It was all about to end.

 * * * * *

…we HAD to smell nice?

* * * * *

A decade of fashion. Thanks to Marie Clare magazine. 

* * * * *

 

…these were the essentials in every teenage girl’s wardrobe?

* * * * *

…we turned old jeans into the coolest purses?

* * * * *

…Farrah Fawcett was the golden girl?

* * * * *

…we had some of the most awesome hot-rods? That’s an AMC Pacer at the bottom. That was MY hot-rod!

* * * * *

…a cutting-edge social commentary.                       …mood rings.

               

* * * * *

…the latest in trendy footwear.

* * * * *

                        …some ridiculous fads   

                           …and an impossible puzzle

* * * * *

…the music was unparalleled.

* * * * *

…iconic images from the times.

     

* * * * *

…politics and social action.

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