How Come So Many Baby Boomers are Still Alive?

We Could Have Been Killed

• Your mom fried everything in Crisco.
• You could stand up in a convertible and let the wind blow in your hair.
• Baby oil was used to get a tan.  A little iodine added to the oil got you an even darker tan.
• You ate lots of bologna and mayonnaise sandwiches.
• Your sandbox was used by a lot of cats.
• If you got mumps, measles, chicken pox, or strep throat, you just had to “get over it.”
• Moms would give their little ones a few bucks and send them to the drugstore to pick up their prescriptions. (I think tranquillizers were relatively new and quite popular in the 1950’s).
• Parents could send the kids down to the news stand to pick them up a pack of cigarettes.
• Babies were left outside the grocery store while Mom shopped.
• Babies were left outside in strollers to “get air” while Mom was ironing in the house.
• What’s a bike helmet?
• Kids could sit on the edge of the car window so that they could hold onto the roof of the car as it sped down the highway.  Very refreshing.  What’s a seat belt?
• You could go down to the railroad tracks and put pennies, or whatever, on the tracks.  You would lie in wait until that train came roaring down the track and flattened whatever you put on the rail.
• You really did walk a mile to school when it was 13 below because there was only one car and no school bus service.
• Riding in the back of a truck sitting on the side wall was marvelous.
• We were holding sparklers before we reached kindergarten age.
• I think you had to be older than age 6 before you could trick-or-treat until midnight.
• You would go by yourself to the dentist.  His office had that ominous sign with the pointing finger.