SIMPLE FUN

 No wonder the elderly remember and talk about the past so much...there's not a lot of future to dream about.


That's my excuse for telling you about some of the activities we had when I was a very young girl in my little town in South Texas. When I was in the 9th grade the town leaders opened a place called "The Youth Center". It was just a couple of blocks from the high school and had a big dance floor, a juke box, and a snack bar. TV had just been invented and  was not common and no one could even have dreamed of the internet. We were easily entertained. It was a place where we could go, dance a bit and hang out with our friends with no strings attached. Two adults were present as chaperones but they did a good job of staying in the background so we felt like we were truly on our own. Since I loved to dance it was the perfect place for me. In the Fall we had hay rides, sitting on a trailer filled with hay which was pulled by a tractor. As we were pulled along, we sang songs and watched the night sky, us girls keeping an eye out for any boy who might be interested in us. Of course, we saw the same boys every day at school but hay rides in the dark of a moonlit night make romance all the more possible and exciting.   

There was an activity held at school every year called Sadie Hawkins Day. Actually it originated in a leap year when February had 29 days but as well as I can recall all during high school we celebrated it in February even though it may not have been a leap year. It's the day when girls asked the boys for a date, which of course is common now but wasn't way back then. We dressed up like Hill Billys and it was great fun. We ran all over the school campus chasing them, not knowing what to do if we caught them. Wish I could find a picture to show you. 

I guess the point of my telling you this is not only to give you a picture of how life was then but to point out that it was so simple. It didn't take much to entertain us and we had such a easy camaraderie with our classmates. I don't profess to know how high school society is now but I'm pretty sure that there is a lot of pressure put upon young people to grow up rapidly. I wish they could take hay rides in the moonlight.

Comments

  1. Quita SNDecember 16, 2020 at 5:42 PM

    I love when you share a glimpse into life back then! I also remember all our dances and am sad that my kids only had senior prom and that's it. :(

    ReplyDelete

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