You'll be missed Michael

Can you remember drinking from a hose?

Here is a forwarded email sent to me from my good friend, Justin. Instead of forwarding it on I liked the idea of blogging it. Pictures added by me because...I like pictures.

To Those of Us Born

1930 - 1979

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno.. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said.


Very well stated, Mr. Leno.


TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's,
60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered
with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight.. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on..

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps
and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem


We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.


WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.


If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
~
The quote of the month is by
Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Powder Baby

I'm sure almost any parent has experienced some variation or scenerio depicted above. This is Timo from a few years back but I'm pretty sure Eric is the only one of our boys I haven't seen covered head to toe in baby powder at some point. Even two year old Noah has done some friendly powder hazing to baby Mikey. It's a funny thing when this happens. First you smell the powder, then you see little powder mists floating around in the air(which is really distracting when you're watching reruns of Seinfeld). Then you may see the culprit who is unknowingly covered in powder because he powdered his younger brother. Finally, the victim emerges completely covered in white. You don't know whether to get really angry or laugh. Usually, it's both for me. I get mad, then I laugh...usually. To any new parents(Justin and Kjerstin) you must know that if you keep baby powder in the house, this experience at some point or another will happen just as sure as the sunrise. It's funny...almost every time.

Crazy Bat Swing

Balancing a bat on the palm of my hand just doesn't seem to be cool anymore. Check out what this guy can do.

Today was a good day

I did something today that has been rare to me lately. I was gone from home all day long. I even played basketball...twice. I haven't got that much sun in a long time. I felt like I was drawing energy from the sun, like Superman. The last several months have been very humbling and has changed me in a lot of ways. I look forward to a summer filled with days just like today.