Milk (cream, eggs) deliveries. Specialty stores that only sold hats or fabric, like my friend Joan’s parents had. Most specialty stores these days are very high end. (And perhaps they need to be in order to survive?) Schools that you could walk to. Something less tangible I miss is the ability of kids to wander unattended and to mill around in places like the mall or a public pool with nary a parent in sight.
When I was a student I traveled by bus often, going from Pittsfield to Hartford. One beautiful weekend in my first year of college, I took a bus from Providence to Worcester to see my first true love. I remember walking down the shallow, dingy steps and seeing him when the door louvred open. Greyhound bus stations are rapidly vanishing too as this NPR article points out but they have been a critical way to get from one place to another, especially for those with limited financial means.
But one of the things I miss most are phone booths. You needed a dime or a quarter, generally, to get going when I was growing up but once you had that coin, that 3 ft x 3 ft x 7 ft space with its sticky louvered door was your palace. If you didn’t have any money you could try to reach your person by calling collect, so the caller would *pay* to talk to *you*. But in a phone booth, I felt oddly transformed. I could go anywhere, hear any voice. Or just pick up the phone and ask the operator what the time was. (Can you imagine?)
photo by Daina Anairad via Unsplash
What’s something that existed when you were a kid that you wish was still around?
Remember the game M.A.S.H.? Or even magic 8 balls, or the notes folded in paper fortune telling boxes (aka chatter boxes), or maybe just paper notes in general! I miss the simplicity of the little magical ways we could manifest and dream before social media told us what to like and strive for instead. Can you tell I’ve always been a little obsessed with intuitive insight??
Landlines. Newspapers. Calling time and temperature (for some company). Not being able to be reached/located. Not knowing what was happening in every corner of the world. Not having online news outlets autoplaying traumatic footage. Autoplay. Those plastic frames new CDs were displayed in. Cassette tapes. Innocence, ignorance, childhood! Oh, and how could I forget: the right to a safe and legal abortion.
Oh golly, yes! Cassettes! And I forgot about calling for temperature, too. I was wondering a few days ago when I heard about OJ Simpson dying if the tide turned - from not rebroadcasting every bit of traumatic footage to choosing to do so - with the infamous white Bronco car chase. So many people watching...the ratings! What a list. Thanks Julia.
Remember the game M.A.S.H.? Or even magic 8 balls, or the notes folded in paper fortune telling boxes (aka chatter boxes), or maybe just paper notes in general! I miss the simplicity of the little magical ways we could manifest and dream before social media told us what to like and strive for instead. Can you tell I’ve always been a little obsessed with intuitive insight??
OMG! Yes! And my kiddo still makes those little fortune tellers! I love the little bits of everyday magic in those playful games. So fun.
We called those folded fortune tellers "cootie catchers" 😂😂😂
And YES to freewheeling dreaming 💜
Landlines. Newspapers. Calling time and temperature (for some company). Not being able to be reached/located. Not knowing what was happening in every corner of the world. Not having online news outlets autoplaying traumatic footage. Autoplay. Those plastic frames new CDs were displayed in. Cassette tapes. Innocence, ignorance, childhood! Oh, and how could I forget: the right to a safe and legal abortion.
Oh golly, yes! Cassettes! And I forgot about calling for temperature, too. I was wondering a few days ago when I heard about OJ Simpson dying if the tide turned - from not rebroadcasting every bit of traumatic footage to choosing to do so - with the infamous white Bronco car chase. So many people watching...the ratings! What a list. Thanks Julia.
All of this 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻
I miss life before smartphones. I miss boredom and the creativity it brought along. I miss the mystery of not knowing who was calling the landline.
Yes to the idea of boredom and the creativity it can yield. I cannot THINK of when I might have been bored last. A time when the phone ringing briefly meant mystery! Did you see this: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/the-dumbphone-boom-is-real?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us\