My Memories of the 1970s

As I go outside to my screened-in porch on this beautiful fall morning to write my blog, I am immediately hit by a brisk 45-degree temperature, and I can smell a faint hint of spent gasoline from a neighbors car. Within a nanosecond, I am transported back in time to early fall mornings in 1973 - 1977. Every Monday through Friday, my father would drive us to school, and it was the same olfactory sensation every day. I would smell the fresh air first, second the floral carbon of gasoline that hadn't ignited during the car startup process and lastly, I would hear the flick of my dad's Zippo lighter, smell the lighter fluid as it ignited, and then the nicotine sent of his cigarette smoke wafting through the interior of the family Palomar Red 1964 Chevelle coupe.  
To those who didn't grow up in the upper midwest, these sensations may not make a lot of sense, and you may be inclined to alert DCSF, but I remind you that these are fond memories of mine. I joke with my wife about the drives we would take in the Chicago winter's where both our dads would crack the window by about a half-inch and pretend that the smoke would escape through that opening. Normally, the smoke would just get pushed from the rushing air outside the car back into the cabin. Whoever sat behind the driver's seat would get hit with the most smoke. My plan was to always be in the second row, middle seat, so I could see all the action in front of the car and be a part of whatever conversation, my mom and dad where having.    
Growing up in the 70s was a wonderful time for me. Not only because it was the decade of my childhood, but it was the decade that would be one of the last to be analog. I'll give you a couple of reasons why the 70s were the best non-digital eras.  
To understand the 70's, you have to know that parents were a lot less controlling and intrusive. Our parents were the product of the 50s, and they had grown up in post-WWII, so they were under a lot of scrutiny and protection from their parents. As a result, they did the opposite of their parents when it came to raising children of the 70s and were a lot more open minded to exploration. Here is an example of this attitude. I would get driven to school every morning, but my siblings and I would have to walk home. We had to cross a busy four-lane main street, Milwaukee Ave before we reached home. I would do this from 1st grade until 5th. As a father, I couldn't imagine my 13-year daughter doing that today.  
Next is the lack of technology. My family had one television and one landline phone. Oh, we also had a record player console. That was it. If you wanted to play inside the house, you had to plat with your Hotwheels, blockstinker toyslincoln logs, or a light bright set. If we went outside, we'd play 500, baseball, football, or ride our bikes with the neighborhood kids.  
When we got home from playing at night, we'd have dinner that our mom's made because most of them were housewives didn't have to work if they didn't want to. Our dads would have the only car in the family and they'd come home from work and eat with us around 6 pm. When school was over it was over. No excessive amounts of homework, if any. Same for our fathers when it came to working. They had hobbies at night because they didn't have access to their work at the house. My dad would build model cars with me or play catch if he wasn't too tired from the day. He had something known as "spare" time and he would tinker around the house and build things. 
When I look back on the 70s, I see it for what it was, a simple time for people to connect one on one. Privacy was a given, and you could remain anonymous if you wanted to. Social Media back then consisted of going to church, Cub Scouts and Girl Scout meetings, and the occasional pancake breakfast fundraiser. If you wanted to spend time with a friend, you had a telephone on the kitchen wall or a face-to-face visit. It was a much more personal time and a much more slowly paced one.  
I share these experiences with you so that you too can connect with your senses to go back in time. I want you to have the feeling of connecting with the past in a meaningful way. When you go back in time (in your thoughts) your brain and body don't know that it is in 2020, it feels that it is living in 1973 and is just about to get into the family Chevelle and go to St. John's for a day of grade school.  
Technically this is time travel is called cellular recall. This recall involves your cellular memory to any moment in time that you have experienced. Your cells keep a record of which genes were activated during their development. Even more important, your memory is retrievable at any given time and point in your history. This allows you to re-live moments in your life as many times as you want. But be aware that these cells are not discerning. They will also relive difficult or traumatic times, and your body and mind will not know the difference. So choose the events you want to relive, wisely. Don't tell old stories that no longer serve you. Focus on what makes you happy and what excites you.  
Now go and explore this new universe of self! Have fun!

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