When Spring was time to go barefoot in the greening grass and smell thunderstorms in the distance? When blackbirds followed the plows and disks through the fields feasting on uncovered delicacies? When a walk in the woods was a treasure hunt for box turtles and mushrooms hiding under May apples and Jack-in-the-Pulpits? When Quaker Ladies covered the meadows and open woodlands and fairy rings appeared after a rain storm? When Mom and Grandma hunted for turnip and mustard greens, dandelion and lamb’s quarter, sour dock and plantain and boiled them up for dinner with bacon and vinegar? (Whether you liked them or not?)
Do you remember free movies shown on screens stretched between trees outside the local grocery; bringing your own popcorn in a big kettle and sitting on blankets with friends and family? And how everyone could watch the movies from toddlers to grandmas and enjoy them?
And then theaters in Attica and Williamsport showing Hop-a-long Cassidy and Tarzan serials on Saturday mornings? Do you remember the endless wait until you could make sure they were saved from the cliff-hanger ending you’d just witnessed? How about 5c cokes pulled from a bright red cooler in the grocery store when sugar-free and vitamin enriched were yet to be invented?
Stopping at that same store after Church on Sunday morning to pick up the paper and arguing over who got to read the comics until Mom took it away from both of you until after lunch? Speaking of lunch; how about those four-layer strawberry shortcakes made from sweet biscuit dough and served from a big glass platter just wide enough to keep them from overflowing? Or smelling the pot roast that had been cooking all morning and served with real mashed potatoes, brown gravy, home-made bread and home-canned green beans?
Remember the taste of the first ripe tomato? No salt and fresh off the vine? Remember picking off tomato worms if you were a boy and knocking them off with a stick if you were a girl? Remember when kids could play in small towns after dark and not be afraid? Or walk down a country road to visit a friend and play for the afternoon?
Most of those times are gone, but thunderstorms still announce their arrival with the smell of rain and distant rumbles. Lightning bugs still sparkle above the young corn and popcorn still tastes good when shared by a family. Friends are still there in laughter and tears and the flag is still flown from the homes and businesses of patriots. We are all still just folks and our needs are still pretty much the same. We may look different and even talk different, but we’re still us. And that’s a good thing.