What did we do before we had the internet?

Or all the other technology that is now so affordable that everybody seems to have it. I mean can you remember? Or for some of you, can you remember a time when you did not have internet or cell phones? I do. I can even remember only having about 5 or 7 channels on the TV to choose from which of course means we played outside more. We didn’t have 150 channels to cruise through and then still not find anything to watch. We didn’t have the World Wide Web to search endlessly and still be bored. And if we went outside to play the only way mom could call us home would be to yell out loud “Dinner!” And if we heard we’d come home otherwise we kept playing till dark.

Our favorite thing to play was Barbie’s of course. About three of us girls would get together with all our dolls, Barbie clothes and other doll accessories and play all afternoon. We were probably in second or third grade. Do they still play Barbie’s at that age? I know my girls did but then it seems they quickly outgrew that phase – and way too soon in my opinion.

We also played dress up! I would love going to garage sales with my mom to scout for gowns I could use to play in and pretend I was of course a princess! Or a trapped damsel in distress waiting for my knight in shining armor to rescue me. We whiled away many an afternoon playing one or the other as well a hula hooping or jacks. We all lost touch as we grew up and went our separate cliques and ways but recently we did find each other again on Facebook! Two of us went to lunch and had a grand old time catching up.

As I got older I also discovered books! I could not believe we could borrow books from a library, for free. And there were so many. My favorites were the Mrs Piggle Wiggle series and another featuring a girl named Ginny. For the life of me I can’t remember (good old pre-menopause kickin in again) the name of the books but I remember the character and the stories.

What always intrigued me the most about the library was the adults only section. What could be back there? They looked just like all the other books. Of course the only reason I was intrigued was because it was forbidden. And once you do have access to the forbidden it loses its mystery and then is no big deal which I found out once I was old enough to go to that section. And now that I’ve read a few, the romance novels probably should have been in that section as well. But I’m so glad they weren’t.

The best thing now about having internet though is that you can do research so much quicker online than going through a million encyclopedias.

What else did I do before the internet?

Catch grasshoppers, frogs and fireflies

Ride my bike or roller skate

Talk on the phone with friends for hours

Listen to records in my room

Bake! Cakes, cookies, tarts

Scrapbook

Clean

Read

Play