Trent Ruble's Blog: The Other Way It Is - Posts Tagged "nostalgia"

As another year passed last week, I got to thinking about time. I don't know why, but I'm fascinated with time. It's so interesting to see time go by and the changes that come with it. Consider how you feel when you find an old classmate on Facebook who you haven't seen for 30 years. Their photo will instantly remind you of how much time has passed. Or, think of your children when they were small and how much they've changed, even though it seems like it was only yesterday.

It's also interesting that we give our time names and numbers like "January," "Sunday," "the 90s" or "2012," and then these names and numbers seem to take on a personality. For example, think of the word "Sunday" and then notice what comes to mind; church, football, a day off work, maybe a barbecue, etc... When I think of "1967" for example, I think of songs like "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, or the first Chevrolet Camaro, or the Summer of Love. Thinking of 1967, or one of many other time periods, brings to mind a feeling or a mood. How is it that these semantics develop meaning?



Well, however it happens, it doesn't seem to be happening as much anymore. For example, try to think of the name of the decade between 2001 and 2010. Or, if you're familiar with cars, think of what a 2006 Chevrolet Impala looks like. You'll realize that it looks almost exactly like a 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, or a 2012. I can about guess what the 2013 model will look like. Prior to 1980 most cars looked different each year and that look contributed to the personality of the time. To me it seems that modern times are more "generic" and don't have personality like times past. Or, maybe it's just that one can only feel that personality when looking back.

I think our current decade will be called the "teens" (even though it is not yet 2013). It's hard for me to think of our current time as the "teens" because, when I think of the "teens," I think of the time between 1911 and 1920, even though I wasn't alive then. I wonder what personality our kids and grandkids will see in these new "teens."

It's difficult to get kids to play outside these days. They seem to enjoy more being inside where they can play fast paced video games or watch television shows. Even when we're successful in getting them out the door, they complain that none of their friends are outside, which is because their friends are inside watching television or playing video games. Unfortunately, they're missing out on a great part of being a kid.

Anyone around my age or older remembers that, when we were young, there weren't any video games and television was for rainy days. And, even then, there was nothing on daytime TV for kids to watch anyway. Instead we played outside all day nearly everyday. We knew all the kids in the neighborhood and we nearly always found someone willing to play.

In my 1970s Indiana neighborhood, which included my Orchard Lane home and the surrounding area, there seemed never to be a time when we could find nothing to do. We played games such as "Home Run Derby" in the cul-de-sac between Kevin Paul and Carol Rugg's houses, "Slips" in the inner circle behind Jeff and Jay Kyle's house, football at Dave Ellis' house (in spite of the tree in the middle of the playing field), basketball behind Mark and Julie Conkle's house and even "Spoons" at Jo Anne Haines' house. But, our favorite thing was to swim in Mr. Collier's pool.

Mel Collier lived in a nice yellow ranch within sight of my house. He made his swimming pool available to the neighborhood kids by raising a blue "welcome" flag on his back yard flag pole. On hot days we would run covert bike patrols checking for the flag. The missions had to be clandestine because we didn't want Mr. Collier to see us hovering around his property. When it was my turn to check for the flag, I would make it appear that I was visiting one of the homes on the other side of Mr. Collier's house (the Kaiser's, Young's or Crawford's). Once one of us noticed that the flag was up, word spread quickly throughout the neighborhood and soon all the kids were there having a great time.

Another of our favorite activities was racing our bikes. Part of our street was a circle which lent itself well to racing. We would race our BMX bikes and ten-speeds around the circle as fast as we could, sometimes crashing in the corners (my apologies to the late Jeff "June Bug" Davis). One day Jeff Kyle was proudly showing us his new Schwinn Apple Krate, which came with a stick shift and speedometer. My brother, Stacy, asked to ride the bike and was soon speeding around the circle as fast as he could, all the while looking straight down at the speedometer. Unfortunately, he didn't see the Volkswagen Squareback parked directly in front of him. The crash left a dent in the car and damaged the brand new bike as well. I think Stacy's knees still bother him as a result. Jeff was more than a little upset with Stacy over the incident, although I think he's over it now.

Schwinn Apple Krate

Of course, there are many, many other memories, including the time Dave Ellis was bitten by Carol Rugg's Afghan Hound; Rashid, after saying we shouldn't be afraid of him; my failed attempt at singing in Stacy and Denny Scher's rock band; and the time I crashed my car nearly into the Crawford's house (see They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To (and it's a good thing). Many of the kids in our neighborhood are still my friends today. We don't see each other often but we all share the grand memories that our own kids simply will not have. Their loss.