Dad talks with farmer who leans against our Impala
Then, the milkshakes. Chocolate, please. We slid into plastic booths, our bare legs sticking to the green vinyl seat covering. Watching the server’s preparation in the reflection of a long mirror that ran the length of the soda fountain, we’d listen for the whirr of the milkshake maker to end.The waitress poured the shake into clear Coke glasses, leaving a little bit at the bottom of the cold metal mixing container. She set both the glass and the metal container side by side in front of me. I tried to blow the paper off the straw, then stuck the straw into milkshake remainders and drank deep. After I cleared that out, I switched to the Coke glass and nursed it, flipping through Richie Rich while Dad reminisced.I hadn’t thought of those milkshakes or Moss & Money’s in years. Then I read Andrea’s post “Growing Up Girl–in the 70s,” and her Richie Rich reference instantly transported me back in time. She wrote:
This weekend I sat back and watched my girls – ages 15, 10 and 7 – BE girls. Unique in every way, they only seem to have the fact that they are sisters, in common. As I watched them BE, I thought about me, too. I thought back to when I was a girl, at each of their ages, and I did a little bit of remembering … Remembering what it was like growing up girl. So, today I present to you – 10 things about growing up girl (for me) in the 1970’s.
I just gave you one thing about my own growing up girl in the 1970s. Here are sketchy notes on nine other possibilities:
- Richie Rich comic books read while sipping a chocolate shake at the soda fountain.
- Nancy Drew mysteries checked out in bulk from the local library.
- Banana seat Schwinn bike pedaled all over town and later along the country road when we moved to a farm.
- Metal TV trays set up in the living room on sick days. Saltines and 7-Up.
- Captain Kangaroo, The Electric Company, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood
- Schoolhouse Rock, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island
- Elderly babysitter’s African violets blooming on the kitchen table; she, sitting in a recliner, watching “Days of Our Lives.”
- Mary Tyler Moore, The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H, Star Trek
- (I watched a lot of TV. Can you tell?)
- Pong
This post is part of Charity’s THC community-building project, “There & Back Again.”
I went to TheHighCalling.org member blog Unfailingly Loved to read “Growing Up Girl–in the ’70s” which inspired me to write something of my own.Each Thursday, consider going “There and Back Again” yourself. It’s simple.Here are Charity’s steps:
Swanson TV dinners? I remember those…but I was a teen in the 70s, a girl in the 60s.
Which mostly means I’d decided I didn’t like electronic games before Pong came out.
I remember when the first supermarket opened in our town and we started shopping there. At Burt’s market, the butcher would often give me a pickle, huge, juicy, and sour-dill, from the jar on his counter while my mother made her selections.
No one at the supermarket gave me pickles.
Pickles! What a sweet–er, sour–memory, Sheila.
I did like Swanson TV dinners, though we didn’t get them often. Not sure why we didn’t, as my mom worked.
Ann – Oh, the 70s. It might take me a minute; I’d have to catalog memories by grade, then age, then year, or maybe by the house we lived in. But I could come up with a list of my own.
I remember wearing a comb in my back pocket, and trading with a boy if we were “going together.” (At eight! What was my mom thinking? – Oh yeah, she probably didn’t know!)
We Hoosiers will remember Cowboy Bob and Janie, and I also can recalling curling up on the couch with my mom to take my nap while she watching Guiding Light.
And I LOVED sitting by the stereo console listening to Karen Carpenter and Mac Davis.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Now off to meet Andrea.
Oh, look at all these great things you pulled up just like *that*!
Yes, locally there was Cowboy Bob and Janie. Here’s a YouTube of the opening to Cowboy Bob:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvntRV_cZV4&feature=related
I curled up with my mom in the evenings to watch Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Star Trek.
My brother would play the Beatles on the stereo console.
I can’t believe I just typed stereo console.
The Guiding Light! Remember the Ed-Holly-Roger triangle?
Very fun post, ann. Thanks for linking back to me. I love when the Lord works. It brings me joy that memories of mine can trigger memories for you, too! I loved Gilligan’s Island and Mary Tyler Moore. I thought it would be fun to be her. Looking forward to getting to know you more … have a blessed night. I’m off to e-bay to see if I can find some Richie Rich comic books … 🙂
Oh! This is truly swoonworthy! Richie Rich! Mad Magazine! And Schoolhouse Rock? Do you even want to know how many times I sang the Interjections! song to my kids when I was homeschooling them? There is a retro ice cream/cheeseburger joint near where I live that still serves milkshakes the way you described. I wish I had come across Andrea’s post. Will have to check it out in the a.m. Your post brought so many smiles.
Loved your memories of the 1970’s. I remember those programs on TV that my children loved to watch. By the way, I left my post at There and Back. Thinking back to 1949 and Bob’s Proposal. http://hazel-moon-blog.blogspot.com/2011/06/proposal.html
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