by Tom Morrow

RANDOM THOUGHTS – Mission Avenue in the downtown area is looking better. Some of the restaurants are serving their culinary offerings, under umbrellas on the sidewalk, which has been expanded to twice the previous size. Hats off to those restaurateurs who managed to endure the low to no business while the city did the work. Now all we have to do is get used to the “back-in” parking along Mission.

LOOKING BACK — It’s hard to believe our society has survived as long and as well as it has.

As children, we rode in cars, (even stood up in the backseat) with no seat belts or air bags, and found it great fun to hitch a ride in the back of a pickup truck or on the running board of Dad’s car.

We came into this world using baby cribs that were painted with bright-colored lead-based paint. And we cut our teeth often chewing on the crib rails, ingesting the paint.

There were no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets. You were a sissy if you had one of those thin-tired English bikes.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but never became overweight; although we kept the dentist quite busy.

We swam in creeks and ponds rather than pristine swimming pools.

In school, we pledged allegiance to our flag, which resulted in a lifelong habit.

We played “king of the hill” on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites and when we were hurt, mom pulled out a cheap bottle of Mercurochrome because, unlike iodine, it didn’t sting.

We didn’t misbehave at the neighbor’s house, because if we did, we got our little butts smacked there and then; again when we got but home. The same thing happened at school. Somehow our parents always found out before we could get home.

We kids played in the gravel driveway with Tonka trucks, which were made tough to take that rough gravel instead of front-room carpeting.

Summers were spent behind the push lawnmower until one summer when dad could afford a motor. We still had to walk behind it, though.

My goodness, how did we ever survive?

QUITE QUOTABLE —- “Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life: violence and committee meetings.” — Syndicated columnist, author and TV commentator George Will

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