My wishes for our children today. . .

I was just thinking what a magical time it was growing up in the 1950's and early 1960's. How much fun we had during this innocent time using our imagination and playing with our friends. Many of the experiences I had growing up would be my wishes for my grandchildren and all of our children today. These things I would wish for them. . .

*watching Mary Martin as Peter Pan on tv and being sure you could fly the next day if you only believed hard enough

*finding a little dead bird in your grandmother's backyard and having a funeral service for it with your cousins, complete with sermon, hymns, prayers and kleenex flowers to cover the shoebox the little bird was placed in

*catching fireflies on a warm summer evening

*making flower garlands for your hair

*playing jacks, jump rope and hopscotch

*eating homemade ice cream and ice cold watermelon at a family picnic (and when I say family, I mean the whole family, aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents)

*going to a Saturday afternoon matinee for 25 cents and watching "Ma and Pa Kettle" or "The Three Stooges"

*Friday night sleepovers with your best friend and watching "Weird Theater" on tv (usually something with Vincent Price) and hiding your eyes and being scared to death

*buying a beautiful diamond or pearl ring at the five and dime store and then watching your finger turn a shade of green

*making smores around a campfire

*wanting to be just like Hayley Mills as she starred in those wonderful Disney movies

*crying for "Old Yellar" and cheering for Dorothy to find the city of Oz and being scared stiff by those flying monkeys

*riding your bike like the wind as you followed a rainbow to try and get to the end of it, being sure there were leprechauns and a pot of gold at the end

*playing softball at school recess and not really keeping close score because everyone was playing "just for the fun of it"

*going to Vacation Bible School and looking forward to that kool aid and homemade cookies, also painting those plaster of paris molds to give to your mother who always hung them somewhere in the house with pride

*playing hide and go seek with the neighborhood kids on a hot summer night until your parents called you because it was time to go home

*not really a care or worry in the world because we always knew Mighty Mouse would "come to save the day"

Thank you, sweet friends, for stopping by today. May those times of innocence and fun always be in our hearts as we share happy times with our own children and grandchildren. Love to each and every one of you.