Seems Like It Was Just Yesterday.

Perhaps it's just me but I'm missing some sights and sounds of days gone bye especially those of my youth...

I no longer hear the voice of a kid yelling out from under a street light, "1-2-3 on Terry behind Mrs. Leroy's porch." In fact, I don't hear kids yelling names of playmates to come out and play. The sound of a wooden bat falling to a side street pavement seems gone forever.  Can't think of the last time I heard a young girl gladly tell the neighborhood boy, "No! You forgot to say Mother May I?"

I don't hear street corner evening paper boys shouting, "Paper! Morning Globe!" Never does a push-cart street-vendor pass my home yelling out, "Hot Tamales, Get your Red Hots!" I don't hear parents calling out children's name to come in from play for supper...I suppose kids are mostly inside anyway. The 9 o'clock evening factory whistle seems to have echoed a final time across the night time sky.

I drive by parks and never notice the young playing sandlot baseball. Blacktop basketball courts are sparsely populated. I don't see young boys walking down streets with the family dog following behind. As I drive through many neighborhoods these past many years, I've noticed the 'alley' have disappeared from the suburban landscape. On various days of the week,  front yard views are compromised by garbage cans lined along manicured lawns. Fill me in...did the Federal Government legislate against the auto makers producing 'whitewall tires?'

I cannot help but wonder where have the lightning bugs and Caterpillars gone? Do young kids still put playing cards near the rear bike wheel to create that 'flapping' noise? Don't see hop scotch drawings on sidewalks I frequent. As the summer months bring the warmer temperatures, I will miss seeing adults sitting on backyard swings catching an evening breeze.

I remember when I was perhaps eleven years or so, I'd often fall asleep on a hot August East St. Louis night with a warm breeze filtering into my bedroom while listening to the clanking of nearby neighbor, Red Miller's horseshoes as they hammered home a 'ringer.'

Where have all those sights and sounds gone along with the wonderful stories and precious memories? What replacements now leave memories for later recall of my children and grandchildren? Will those rememberances bring a comforting feeling of security and love? I can only hope and pray...but I do more praying than hoping these days.