With Only A Stick
Our lives up to the 1970s and 80s were so free where we could play outside while feeling safe and not worrying about any problems, except for coming up with something fun to do. And our activities were created from our imaginations.
All we really needed was a STICK…and maybe a ball.
But there were so many things we could do with just a stick:
- Play with a bat and ball
- Magic Wand stick
- Riding whip while pretending to be trotting horses
- Go Fetch with our dog companions or childhood friends
- Rifles for playing Cowboys and Indians
- Teaching our dolls school and using the stick pointer while teaching
- Writing in the sand or dirt
- Playing tic tac toe in the backyard
- Playing pirate or Swiss Family Robinson and using stick as a telescope
- Leading a band of musicians
- Playing games with stick in the air like a baton
“One of my favorite games in elementary school was to pretend to be a trotting horse with my friend Cathy. We cleared a place in the woods and set up a circular horse-riding path with hurdles along the path that were made of wood, tree branches, and pine straw. Then, we trotted around the path, jumping over the hurdles and lightly tapping our butts to guide our ‘horse selves’ to jump over the hurdles.”
– Maggie, North Carolina
SMILE!
I LOVE OUR oldie music! I lost my mom when I was a young child and therefore, growing up, especially as a teen and young adult, was hard. As a result, music helped to emotionally stabilize and bring me up. There were special songs that helped me to be strong and face my fears to get through the days.
The song SMILE was my most favorite song and I sang it to myself under my breath almost daily.
“Smile though your heart is aching, smile even though it’s breaking, when there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by. If you smile through your fears and sorrow, smile and maybe tomorrow, you’ll see the sun come shining through for you… Just light up your face with gladness, hide every trace of sadness. Although a tear may be ever so near, that’s the time you must keep on trying, smile, what’s the use of crying, you’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you’ll just smile…”
Inspired by Puccini’s Tosca, Charlie Chaplain composed the music, and it was used as the soundtrack for his 1936 film, Modern Times. In 1954, John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons wrote the lyrics and title for Chaplain’s music.
There have been many versions of the song, such as by Nat King Cole and The Lettermen, but my absolute favorite is by Michael Jackson. Of all the songs that Michael performed, THIS was his absolute favorite! He had great taste.
Listen and feel this song…
My OREO Story
As a child, I LOVED Oreo cookies!!! I loved breaking them apart and eating the crème first… then finishing off each chocolate wafer. That helped me enjoy the snack for a longer time. They were wonderful while eating alone… terrific with milk… and even better with ice cream.
Then, I grew up and had a career in marketing. I worked in big brand marketing in brand management, new product development, and mergers and acquisitions. Then, my dreams came true. I was hired by the Sara Lee Corporation to introduce a new product for one of their divisions. It was the Popsicle division, and they were working on a licensing agreement with Nabisco Brands to develop an Oreo ice cream new product line.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Doing my favorite job with my favorite snack was beyond my dreams. In 1983 my Marketing VP boss and I worked with our company team to create the ice cream line: regular bulk ice cream with Oreo cookie pieces in chocolate, vanilla, mint, and coffee ice cream flavors; a chocolate-covered ice cream bar of vanilla ice cream with Oreo cookie pieces in it; AND a giant 3-inch ice cream sandwich with vanilla ice cream and Oreo cookie pieces in the middle. We took it through test market and introduced Oreo Cookies N’ Cream Ice Cream nationally.
It was a major financial and marketing success. But the biggest success for ME was the opportunity to eat Oreo cookies and ice cream at work and at home, any time I liked!
Did you know that World Genius inventor Nikola Tesla also loved Oreo cookies? I read in one of his autobiographies that he loved eating them in his later years while living at the Hotel New Yorker.
What about you? Everyone has an Oreo story! What’s yours? Please write to me at [email protected]
PS: Here’s a photo (upper left) of what the Oreo Cookies N’ Cream Ice Cream Sandwich looked like. Nabisco made the 3-inch cookie wafer, JUST for this introduction.
Watch the introductory commercial (below) that was created for us by the Dancer Fitzgerald advertising agency. The singer may sound familiar: Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John. Enjoy and Remember!