My sweetest childhood memories were with family. I haven't any family now and memories are all I have. So this is truly right up my alley. Grandma on one side crocheted and grandma on the other side did a lot of hand stitching. Mom cooked and cleaned, non stop. So I would be in her way, she'd say go watch your grandma. One of them had me hold her yarn and Tell me yarns, lol. The other would allow me to 'load' her needles and give me pointers on P's and Q's. I loved helping them. Guess I didn't know that I was learning all the while But, I fetched and assisted...that is what I do now, part-time, I help elderly ladies.

I am so blessed, Ruth

Thanks Rhonda, for the stroll down memory lane.

mrspete (not a mrs anymore, just a habit of saying it)

I'm sure you are a blessing to them too! My first real job where I got paid was sitting with an elderly lady as her companion.
My first job not paid was pumping gas in my dad's service station. LOL but that was not for money! I think I was about 13 when I first learned to read a dipstick! LOL

I remember that too. My first job paid was when I was 5 and I got to iron my dad's boxer shorts, hankies and the pillowcases for 3 cents each. He was military and that's just how my mom did it. Also got allowance for doing chores.
Now the memories are flooding in. I don't know if this is good or bad. Sureal.....

I was real young during WWII and there was no candy or gum. I remember my first bubble gum. Someone heard there was some at a certain store and a neighbor man loaded up all the kids and we drove there and were each allowed to buy 2 pieces of bubble gum. We chewed that gum for weeks. This was after the war. Then we moved to Houston and they had a movie for kids on Saturday. I got a dime and walked to the movie and it was 9 cents so there was a penny left for a piece of gum.

I remember going with my Mom on the bus downtown to Tweedy Boulevard. I think it was in Compton CA, we lived in Lynwood. There was a store that had a big fabric departmetn in the back. I'd walk along side her and put out my hand and touch all the fabric as we went by. I must have bee 3 or 4. I still touch the fabric.

I also remember taking the street car with my Grandma who lived in LA. We'd go downtown to the May Co. a big department store where my Grandpa worked. He was a retired farmer from Illinois and went to work at the May Co when they moved to CA. He was 65 then and had to lie about his age in order to get the job. He worked there for at least 10 years.

Grandma and I would walk over to church during the week and we would pass a little butcher shop. They had chickens hanging in the window with their heads and feet still on. That facinated me.

Does any one remember the paper mache jack-o-lanterns in the dime stores at Halloween? I can still remeber the smell. I loved those things, still do

I had to iron everything from hankies to shirts but I never got paid for it! LOL I never got an allowance. Just had to do chores.

Late 1950s. There was a neighborhood grocery right next door to our house. They sold candy bars or sodas for a nickle. But even better was the penny candy. For a nickle you could get 5 pieces of candy.

OK
Little bottles of Coke
The little tiny flat blue bottles of 'perfume' from the dime store
The guy that pushed the ice cream cart
Paper kites
Red Rover
Saying the pledge at school outside around the flagpole when "Under God" was added
Wearing wool pants under your dress to keep warm walking to school
Going home for lunch from school
Not having anything and not knowing you didn't have it
The first day the TV showed up
Elvis on Ed Sullivan
Walking to the neighborhood little store - with an uneven wooden floor, windows and doors wide open, and Coke cooler that had water in it
I could keep going... LOL

I remember the town being so safe, you couldride your bike anywhere! We always played outside with our friends, even after dark, we'd play kick the can or hide and seek!
LOL, you could go to the store to buy cigarettes for your parents, no carding back then!