Childhood, Family, Grief, Humor, Life, Music

childhood in a picture

Kari

over the weekend, i found a photo of myself:

i have a vivid memory of this time in my life that i regularly think about. 

the sky is blue and cloudless.

i hear the song “afternoon delight” playing.

funny side story about that song.- my dear friend rebecca, who grew up in the philippines, once told me she loved the song “afternoon delight” in the ’70s. i shared that i loved it too. neither of us had any idea what the song was actually about. we always laugh about two little children, half a world apart, singing at the top of their lungs to a song about afternoon lovin’.

back to my memory…

i hear the song.

it’s summer.

i smell toast or grilled cheese; someone is making it in their kitchen, so the windows are probably open.

i’m in the front yard of my house in the suburban chicago town where we lived in the mid- 1970s.

it’s such a vivid memory, but for many years i assumed it was one i made up, or possibly it was a fever dream.

since the death of my dad, i’ve been looking through pictures and paying closer attention to my childhood photos. i’m sure i’ve seen this photo of myself with a neighborhood friend countless times before.

it just struck me differently this time.

it’s my childhood in a picture.

my friend has dirty pantlegs, big wheels and bikes are strewn across the driveway, and a large pink bouncy ball under my arm.

the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky, and i am in the front yard of our suburban chicago home.

i look so happy here.

i asked my mom how old i would have been in this photo. she said five or six. i’m not sure why i went with six. i decided to look up songs from 1976 because, hello, it’s me. 😊

guess which song was on the charts in 1976.

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65 thoughts on “childhood in a picture”

      1. Oh my go! I left you rel comment right fter thi one, n effing WP give you the tupi tet comment but not the rel one! An you cn ee, I till cn’t type comment in the reply box! Now I on’t remember wht I wrote, other thn I love thi pot. Your chilhoo i both mine n not mine. The prticulr re ifferent, but the univerl truth re the me. (I cn’t type ll the letter in reply to Ally’ blog, either.)

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  5. Kari, you and I are twins because I have found myself doing the same thing with old family photographs. Looking at them went straight to my heart and caused a flashback of wonderful memories that I didn’t realize (at that time) would end up being memories that I would look back fondly, and with heart-felt emotions.

    LOVE that photo! What is it about the 70s and Big Wheels? I had one too! I also loved the song, “Afternoon Delight!”

    Thanks for sharing your memories, my friend! They made me smile :)

    X

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    1. I love that we have these memories! I wonder what that says about us…maybe because we are empaths/intuitives? I believe it is connected in some way.

      I love that you had a Big Wheel too! I’ve been listening to Afternoon Delight on repeat all week.

      I’m so glad it made you smile. 😘💕

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  7. Snapshots often contain magic, this one contains multitudes. I super relate to all of the feels here, including the soundtracks (and an extra bit of joy for the Big Wheel)

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  8. That’s a cool photo, I often wish I had a lot more childhood/teenage photos they are very few and far between especially with friends. Your friend has very cool bellbottoms, but looks like she aint keen on her picture being taken where as you’re a ham 😁

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  11. I love that this childhood photo brought back so many good memories. The time when kids actually played outside and weren’t inside glued to screens! :-( You know what else I noticed about this photo besides the things you mentioned? The CARS! Remember when cars were huge chunks of sturdy metal?!

    I loved the song, Afternoon Delight! I’m older than you…I was 14 when this song came out. At that tender age and still innocent, I secretly felt naughty and giggly when I listened to it. ;-)

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    1. Isn’t it? I love how this picture takes you back! That is what I hoped to achieve with this post! I was hoping that my picture could bring back people to their childhood. 💕

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  15. I regret not snagging my childhood front yard photo with friends. It sooo perfectly captured the time – dorky poses in dress up clothes. At least I can still picture it in my mind.

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  16. Such a great song that I haven’t thought about in ages. It feels like the 70s… and yes, I had no idea about the meaning of the lyrics until later in life. Great nostalgic post… thank you!

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  17. I love that photo and I love Afternoon Delight – both the song, and having sex in the afternoon. I mean, who wants to do it at night when I’m half asleep? Sorry for bringing up sex in this nice post about your childhood (BUT YOU STARTED IT! Now I’ll be humming this all day.)

    Ah, childhood. I love how we were all just putzing around with our friends all day, dirty and having fun.

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  18. I absolutely remember when that song came out because I associate my junior high school gymnasium with it, for some reason. I had just started 7th grade and I still didn’t know what the song was about. Yesterday, I heard Exile’s ‘I Want to Kiss You All Over’ from that time period and I remember loving that song, too. We grew up in a sexy song era!🤣🤣🤣

    I love the photo, and even though I’m older than you, that photo represents my childhood, too. Big wheels, bikes, and balls! Except, where were your mailboxes? We used to ride our bikes up and down the street, playing mailman with imaginary mail, I guess!

    Good times, good memories! XO

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    1. We did grow up during sexy song era. I’ll start using the phrase on auto-repeat now. When Little Red Corvette came out, all of my friends said, “It’s about S-E-X!”. I was like, “It’s about a C-A-R”

      Our mailbox was located on the house! The mailman walked through our neighborhood! We used to do that on our bikes, too! But that was when I was older and lived in Ohio… where we had mailboxes at the end of our driveways! 🤣

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  19. I am a big fan of walking in your memories. The more detail the better. The smell of the lake pier, the feel of hot pleather car seats, the hum and gritty crunch of the big wheel furiously peddled, the song that you and your friends belted out singing through the neighborhood.

    Someone I love has dementia. I am totally burned out with care but when I can unlock memories like yours Kari in my LO then my own & my LO’s health problems receed and for those few moments everything is as it was.

    A few days ago I watched an old home video taken by a family member. We have almost none.

    All my favorite people and even my sweet old dog! Laughing and telling stories – some about relatives who lived over a hundred years ago. More walking in memories.

    I’m so glad you found your photo (or it found you!).

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m so sorry your loved one has dementia. Anna’s Nana died of Alzheimer’s disease last April. She watched as she lost all of her memories over the course of ten years. But there was also a lot of magic during those ten years. She had an awakening a few months before her death and briefly remembered Anna. It was beautiful. I will keep hoping for awakenings for you and your loved one. I’m sending you so much love, Maddie.😘

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  20. I love this post and your sweet picture! I had the best childhood! So much so, I have the house number of my childhood home tattooed on my ankle. It’s a small forever mark that lives with me everyday. “Afternoon Delight”..haha! I was clueless about this song too!

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    1. Oh, Judy, I just love this!! What a great tattoo idea! I’m getting another tattoo next month in honor of my dad, and I was considering adding his death date to it, but now you’ve got me thinking…

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  21. This is so sweet. What a great memory and how wonderful to have a photo to correspond with said memory. I’m chuckling about you two friends singing that song at the top of your sweet, innocent little lungs.

    I have a photo from my kindergarten class. It was one of the class photos when everyone stood on risers, so full outfits – not head shots. One kid, who I remember as Trouble, capital T intentional here – was wearing a t-shirt with a very sexy photo of Farrah Fawcett posing in a red bathing suit. Funny that I remember his as trouble and when I look at that photo and see him, a kindergartener no less, I go Yeah. That makes sense.

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  22. I always try to get candid photos because I think they show so much more life than posed photos. Good to know this is definitely true in your case!

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  23. Wait. Are you saying that song isn’t about astronauts? Sky rockets in flight and all that jazz? I am astounded.

    I love everything about ’70s suburbia. It makes me all kinds of nostalgic.

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  25. You are so cute. This pic could have been either of your girls too, but of course in a different decade.

    Life was so simple, right? You play. You eat. You laugh. You bathe. You get up and do it all again. Meanwhile, your parents are in the house having an afternoon delight.

    The 70’s were amazing.

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  26. I think back to playing outside, between the years of 1976 and 83…

    One evening in 1983, the street lights came on, and it was time to go inside. We put our bikes away, picked up the balls and gloves and action figures, said our goodnights…

    And never went outside to play again.

    I look back at old pictures and see the neighborhood as it was then. In an instant, I remember where everything was: our toys, our bikes, the area where we would dig holes and give our G.I. Joes a bunker…How rainy days were Monopoly days while watching daytime game shows… And then it all ends and you don’t know it at the time.

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  27. Pingback: 15 Nostalgic Things From The '70s That Made Childhood More Fun Back Then - Golden Era Vibes

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