Memories in Black and White

My nifty red Western Flyer Bike

Last night as I was laying there trying to get to sleep I started thinking about when I was very young and lived in a small town in Illinois. I would stay summers with my grandmother (MOM) and her husband.

Back then we were not worried about everything that worries parents these days. I would wake up in the morning to a warm breeze floating over me. The curtains would be waving in the summertime breeze. I would lay there listening for that favorite sound of a pigeon. They make a sound that is really soothing. For years i thought it was an owl but later someone told me that i was wrong. I hated to get up but knew if i did that maybe I could get on my bike and run to the little store and get some chocolate donuts and some chocolate milk. It is odd after all of these years that I can still remember being so comfy!!

My day would consist of getting on my big RED bike and running across town to find my friend Pat. She and I would then ride all over our small town looking for boys!! How much fun!! I still remember my favorite street..YATES street where the boy that I liked lived on. We would ride by hoping to see him in his yard or better yet maybe on his bike.

My step grandfather ran a Mechanic shop. We would go there to visit. He would sometimes give us a deposit to take to the bank. We would hop back on our bikes and bump over the railroad tracks and off to our little bank.

The bank was one of the "Now" very old fashioned ones. I remember the bars on the tellers windows because i would have to slip the deposit under the little hole in the bars.

From there we would wander around town until lunchtime. We would go to Pat's house and fix peanut butter and banana sandwiches and water. Then we would take them down to a creek that was outside of our small town and sit on the bank and eat our great lunch!! Just sitting there I can still remember that too!! Crazy how those long ago memories stick in my head after all of these years.

Then we would hop back on our bikes and ride the whole afternoon. Sometimes we would run into those "boys" we had been looking for and of course that made the afternoon EVEN more fun!!

There were days that we would stay out riding until dark. Can you believe that? Today that would be so unheard of. Oh, yes we did check in once in a while but most of the time we were just "on our own".

What summertime fun we had!! Some days i wish for that time to come back. Just relaxing in the sun or on our bikes. Wind running through our hair and the best thing...NO CARES in this WHOLE world!! Oh to be young again!!

(PS...these pictures are of me and my boyfriend John back then. He is the one that lived on Yates street. I named our first son after him. The others are of Pat and I...we were so skinny then!!)