Reminiscing

It has occurred to me what an amazing achievement that I have lived to this point in my life.  Living in the present time is living in a Golden Age. 
 
As a kid from the late 1950s and 1960s - compared to today we lived in primitive times.  Take food for instance.  I didn’t know what a bagel was until I went to college.  Same for yogurt.  English muffins?  Nope.  Mexican food was never on the menu and until Ned’s Pizza opened pizza was a nonstarter.  Iceberg lettuce reigned supreme, Wonder Bread, Twinkies and chips found their way into my school lunch box.  Nobody knew how to grill because the Weber kettle had yet to be invented.  Cookouts featured over-done burgers and under-done chicken that seemed always to be covered in a ubiquitous layer of ash from constantly putting out the grease flare-ups with squirt guns.  Dads would start the flare-ups and we kids would stand at the ready to douse the fire. 
 
Bicycle helmets did not exist, automobile seatbelts were a rarity and second hand cigarette smoke was everywhere.  Before our street was paved the dust was kept in check by large red tanker trucks spreading the brown effluent from paper mills.  God only knows what nasty chemical byproducts were in that stuff.  
 
There was no structured play time.  During the summer break from school my days were spent rambling around the woods and creeks with my buddies.  We’d leave home in the morning, on our bicycles (sans helmet) with a bag lunch (Wonder Bread with bologna, Twinkies, chips, etc.) and return home in time for dinner.  Afterwards we played kick the can or baseball in the street until the street lights came-on.    
 
I recall riding loose in the back of a station wagon – with the rear window rolled-down we drank-in the wonderful hydrocarbons from the tail pipe that infiltrated the rear of the vehicle. We were going to Friess Lake for the day and after lunch we had to wait an hour before returning to swimming because if you didn’t wait you would get a cramp and drown.  This is singularly a quirky risk-avoidance technique considering some of the afore-mentioned perils encountered on a daily basis.  It’s a wonder any of us survived considering the chemistry sets, lawn darts, primitive car seat technology, lead paint and DDT.  We even had molten plastic…