I am truly a Child of the 70’s. I was born in a blizzard in Newport, Rhode Island on Valentine’s day in 1962. So I really came of age in the 70’s. Which is why, to this day, the 70s is my favorite decade of music to listen to in my car on Sirius radio. Growing up, I loved listening to music on my 8 track player. Because of my eclectic tastes in music, I could be listening to the sounds of Motown, Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Boston, Chic, Zeppelin and/or GQ.
My sisters sported Bell Bottoms and tie-dye t-shirts. Huge afros with picks in the middle were our hair style of choice. My favorite color in clothes was blue because my mom said so and the only adult conversation I was privy to was when I had my ear against the hall door during one of my parents couples-only parties at home.
During the summers which were sooooooo long back then, l played with my Dawn doll, went rollerskating for long periods of time and ate Little Debbie’s, washing them down with cold whole milk. Me, my brothers and sisters and the neighborhood kids kept busy with games of kick-ball in the middle of the street we grew up on ’till the lights came on. Neighbors were friendly then and you didn’t mind borrowing sugar from them.
Back then, children were seen and not heard, telephones were connected to the wall and had long cords that we could carry into a closet if we needed privacy. Walking home alone from school was not a problem and pets (our dog) ate right from the table and were never walked. Our male dachshund would sometimes disappear for days at a time and we never worried that he would not come back.
Vacations consisted of us all piling up in the oversized two-toned family station wagon and going to visit ‘the cousins’ in Newport, Rhode Island or my father’s side of the family in Newark, New Jersey or Niagara Falls, New York.
Those were the days…
With 2 parents and 7 kids in the house, Halloween was an event. We would dress up, take our own pillow sack (flimsy plastic bags would not do!) out into the neighborhood and gather as much candy as we could carry home. Once home, our mother would put all of the chocolates into separate containers for freezing and then store the rest of the candy into places unknown to us. We were literally eating candy for the next 6 months. The dentists had to love us!
I would not trade my childhood for the world. Having a stay-at-home mom and a traditional dad allowed me to reap the benefits that I am still enjoying to this day. Good times!
