The 70's was for me, in many aspects, the worse time of my life and the best time of my life. Today, I would like to focus on those things that make me long for those easy, breezy days.
Whenever I hear ANYTHING by The Staple Singers, The Jackson Five and Al Green, I am spirited back to the summer days I spent at my grandparents home in South Ozone Park Queens.
I'm talking about a time when Queens was as country and down home as any small Southern town.
I have loving memories of the backyard that, at the time, seemed as large as a small park. The street, was not paved until I was about ten years old. Every other week a truck delivered crates of soda. My grandparents had a freezer stocked with ice cream and large portions of red meat and chicken legs. On the weekend my grandfather made us stacks and stacks of pancakes. Sunday dinner was always Thanksgiving-like...
In the backyard there was grapevine, from which I gorged myself on grapes until my stomach locked into knots. There was the harmless Doberman Pincher named Peppy. I was scared to death of him, but he loved me completley.
My grandmother had a 3rd grad education and the year I was born she married a man who had completed two years of college. He was the only grandfather I have ever known. They made an interesting and humorous couple, as she is fair-skinned with shoulder length hair and stands a mere 4"5. My grandfather was a stocky, ink black man who stood a good six feet. He was butter in her hands.
When they married my grandfather came with the four children he had fathered with his first wife. Three girls and one boy. The two added water and love.. and just like that, we were family.
Music was a staple similar to rice, potatoes and cornbread. We kids would spend our evenings entertaining the adults with our renditions of songs made popular by The Jackson Five, The O'Jays. Gladys Knight and the Pips..and so on.
Do children still do that? I suspect not.
We always ate our meals together as a family. Always...No phone calls were taken during dinner/family time. Now, so many families consume their meals in separate parts of their residence, or in front of the television or with their eyes glued to their cell phones as they negotiate handling their forks and texting their friends.
Before the world began to spin at 100+ miles an hour, what happened at home stayed at home. Now, so-called "Reality Shows," are all the rage. Books are slowly becoming a thing of the past and people give me odd looks when I grin at the scratchy sound of a well worn 45 or 68.
My mother is 67 years old and our relationship has gone through some ups and downs. Now, when we manage to be civil to one another, I find her repeating a phrase that I kinda-sorta agree with: "Why can't things go back to the way they were?"
I know exactly what she means. But I know that there is no going back. We are a society locked in full, speed, ahead..
So as I sit here listening to Let's Do it Again, reminiscing on those sunny, love-filled days in South Ozone Park where my female cousins and I jumped double dutch and snuck sips of Cold Duck from the forgotten plastic cups belonging to our uncles and aunts - I muse on that little girl who watched the boys play Skelly right in the middle of the street, and then later giggled behind open palms as the adults did a slow grind in the backyard - eyes closed, faces plastered with satisfied grins. I have fond memories of large bowls of potato salad, the smokey scent of baby back ribs smoldering away on the grill as multi-colored patio lights, lightening bugs and the stars lit up the night sky.
I remember that I understood happiness, family and gratitude in a way that I would have to relearn when I became an adult and from those memories I am reminded that that little four letter word - LIFE - carries a meaning that is as expansive as the universe.......
I remember that before I was "grown" and concerned with grown-folks things, I was a child who didn't have a quarter of what I have now.....but I was happy..
5 comments:
I love this post! Thank you for sharing your memories. Your 70's was my 60's. The Delfonics, Dramatics, Aretha, and all those other slow tunes bring back memories of a sweeter time. Music drew us together too--We used to put on talent shows singing "Cool Jerk" and "Respect" for my Mother, stepfather and sibs when we kids and I remember my progressive cousin from naptown introduced me as a high-schooler to Gil Scott and we played spades one Saturday evening and listened to Winter in America with Mama. Though I know the world turns and life rolls on as it's meant to do, and everything was definitely NOT perfect, I sure wish young folks got a chance to experience the slow, sweet, wonderful moments we have from OUR youth...
Your days of the 70's were like my days of the 50's. I think the world did not go spinning out of control until sometime in the late 80's. I was married in 1976, my two children are 29 and 33, they actually lived for years without knowing what a computer was, a vhs,cable t.v., a Nintendo or a cell phone. The first time I realized I was Mrs. Albin was when I took my first child to kindergarden and then I turned around to look to see who the teacher was talking to as my mother-in-law had passed away before I was even married. I also remember, even through ups and downs with my mother, the first time I said something to my sons, and though - OMG - I sound just like my mother.
I do miss the good old days, I even remember a time before television when I listened to radio soap operas with my mother and she wore aprons, fancy ones, when company came over. I remember when one bottle of coke, probably a quart, had to go around for a family of 6 and that was only on Sunday. I remember learning to type on a manual typewriter, black and white television, sitting outside in the summer until it was dark with all the kids on the street, the ice cream truck and the donut truck from Helms bakery, etc. We certainly had some good times and life didn't seem so hurried. Oh and I remember going to the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and seeing the Beatles:) I simply love this article. Thank you.
The 70's was also my favorite and most memorable time in my life. Playing spades, 4 squares, jacks.. watching Bruce Lee movies and I could go on ... thanks for sharing :-)
Yep, i remember all of that. Good times indeed!
it couldn't have been that long ago, now could it?
the funny thing is, alla this running around and no one is getting anywhere...its like the entire culture has what they now call adhd...i believe it's culturally induced. nothing is being amassed...no getting ahead...just busy for the sake of busy-ness.
and yes, these children still dance for their parents, but any child imitating lil jon is quite frightening indeed. i remember when there were words in songs that i DARE not repeat in the 70's and when grown folks had grown folks space and children children's space. i still bring that up from time to time, and like the sun shining through a lifting fog, i see a few folk over 39 say 'yeah...yeah...i remember that' and shoo the children from the room...lololol
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