Calling all Unsupervised Children of the 70's!!!

Author's note: A special shout out goes to Lawrence White who through his FB status line stirred up fond memories of what is was like to roam freely in the world.

Remember walking out your front door and not being afraid. Remember being 7 or 8 or 9 and walking out the front door of your house at 9am on a warm summer morning and knowing you may not come home until the sun was going down and you heard your mother's voice far in the distance yelling your name. Remember jumping on your bike, bare feet and head and riding in the middle of the road and not thinking about whether or not you'd be hit by a speeding car. Because, you knew, intuitively, the car would stop. And you'd be ok.

Remember living in a neighborhood and actually knowing your neighbors.Remember living in a neighborhood with what felt like a hundred kids and the elaborate worlds you created.  Remember Kick the Can, King of the Mountain, Flashlight Tag. And those of you who played with me, remember The Anything Company, my Fortune 500 Company that was subsidized by forms stolen from my father's business and the bank. Remember running in the dark and not being afraid. And your parents not being afraid either.

Remember walking along the highway, down deserted back roads and through empty fields. Remember running across the highway to get to the pond. Remember knocking on your neighbor's front door and inviting yourself to swim (or in my case - people knocking on my door).

Remember when it was perfectly acceptable for your friend's mother to scream at you for talking back because your mother expected her to do it. Remember being allowed to be a kid. Allowed to make mistakes. Allowed the freedom to learn that the world can be safe. And remember learning that life can be hard too. That people lose. That we all don't make the team. That we all don't get a trophy. And that we survived.