Never "Nothing To Do" Growing Up In Brooklyn
My Mom would say..."If you think you are going to sit around the house on a beautiful day like this, you have another thought coming to you Mister"...Now go out and play."
It was an order. Not a suggestion.
I didn't want to go outside ...there was nothing to do out there I said under my breath just low enough for Mom not to here...."Well it's better than doing nothing in here , at least you will be getting some fresh air" was her response . Yep Moms heard everything no matter how low you talk.
So on go my Keds and out the door I go. I jump from the third step of my stoop and land in a marvelous place known as "Outside"
As I walked along the side walk up and down the street, I looked for something to do. And see what other kids are doing.
Glen Nelson and Mike Nelson are hammering a broken skate on a 2x4 and a milk crate The Connor brothers are flipping Baseball cards with Ray Harrington and Ray is a little worried because he is playing with his brother Michaels Yankee collection.
The Baxter boys Timmy Kevin and Jerry are transforming their front stoop into an army fortress as a game of "Army' was about to be played out with plastic rifles and water guns The Mclinden girls were in front of their house with a jump rope tied to their gate as they skipped as the other turn the jump rope sing songing something about some girl named Miss Mary Mack....Mary Beth Brown was teaching her little sister Coleen the tedious game of Hopscotch as she stood on one foot as she leaned over to pick up a little stick lying inside a numbered box' James Brennan has his baseball glove on one hand and a Spauldeen in the other and is gathering some kids to play Diamond(running bases)
P.J. Joyce just hit a ball two sewers with a broomstick with black electrical tape on its handle but Paul Rasmussen caught with his bare hand reaching over Mrs. Ritter’s fence.Linda Brennan-Burke is playing her new 45s in her alleyway with her portable record player as the beautiful voice of Miss Diana Ross is telling everyone who can hear her song the "There Ain't No Mountain High Enough" can be heard.
Eddie Carloni is riding his bike down the middle of the street just a few feet ahead of Chris Smith on his brand new StingRay
Mike Miello is melting a crayon into a bottle cap as Joe Duval chalks out a new Skully Board in the street.
Barbara Tolan is chasing a Butterfly with a homemade net. (Baby carriage netting on a wire Stephanie Barker-Phillips and my sister Eileen are playing "Hit The Penny" Ken Spinelli Chris Brown and Brian McHenry and playing "BoxBall"
Everett Scott and Michael Brennan are in an intense game of "StoopBall" Mike pretending to be Mickey Mantle and Everett ...Tom Seaver.
Linda Scott and Denise Miello- are playing some card game on her stoop... so Linda could "Check out" Mike Brennan .They were my block’s "Sweethearts".
Mrs. Timmons is yelling at Keith Tolan as he climbs her fence to get the whiffle ball that landed in her rose garden (a ground rule double).
Doug and Kenny Robinson were on their skates and shooting a roll of electrical tape in between two garbage cans as their sister Mary Beth Robinson would yell a warning to both of them to "watch out for the cars"
Joann Reda and Terry Tolan are chasing each other trying not to be frozen in "Freeze Tag"
I am pretty sure that what I have just written happened on a daily basis on every block in every Brooklyn neighborhood from Marine Park to Sheepshead Bay and from Mill Basin to Bensonhurst or any other neighborhoods you care to mention and recall… I know that if you all just closed your eyes for a moment you could picture every scene I just described and you have only to change the names and it would be a damn close painted
picture of a day in your life on your block where you grew up.
Just doing these simple things were what the magic of growing up in Brooklyn was all about. The menu of activities were endless and the there was never a lack of friends to share them with .The humming sounds of kids playing will forever be the warmest memory I will cherish from my magical childhood growing up in Brooklyn.
I feel such joy when I recall "A Day in the Life on My Block" in Brooklyn and at the same time feel such sorrow for the kids today who only have a computer and an I-Pad.
I think I will take playing outside...As Happenstance and Luck would have it, Thanks Mom for making me go outside!!!
So here is my question did you play any of these games or did you stay inside?
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