What was your ”Good ol’ days”?

Never had them, there is no such a thing as “the good ol’ days”.

I do kinda miss the days when I’d watch The Little Flying Bears and Digimon, though

The past always looks better, because of the things paramount to empty headed youthful enthusiasm. The women, the wonderful, wonderful, spectacular women cannot possibly be as extraordinary as I remember them.

I loved that space between high school and college. I did lots of drugs and had lots of sex.
But then a few months ago I went to a gay marriage that wouldn’t have been possible in 2001.

So I think overall I will prefer my good friends getting married.

I’ve seen better times than what my existence is now, but I wouldn’t call any of it the good old days.

I wish I had the tech resources of now back when I still had physical resources. I think I would have kicked ass.
The only kick I have left in me now I am saving for a bucket.

I miss the day when kids still had enough open space to play outside, when kids made friends by face-to-face interaction, and when the internet wasn’t around to make people feel less appreciative towards things.

I had a great time when I was about 18 to 24 – driving with friends, hanging out, etc. but the ultimate was when I was a little kid, up to about age 10. We lived in an affluent suburb of NYC, where we could walk to the village on weekends or after school. These were the days of the stationery store, the book store, the toy store, the luncheonette, all things that are not usually in existence now. There were parks near by – one with a lake, one with a stream. There were little bridges over narrow areas of the lake. We’d walk around the lake and sit with our feet in the water and look at the wildlife. I could walk to my friend’s house and call on her to come out and we could walk around town, pretty far. Now if a kid is walking alone or walking with other kids, unsupervised by adults, someone is getting arrested for lack of supervision and parental neglect.

This was in the early 1970’s and it was a great time and a great place to live. I have fond memories of a nice childhood.

1st round: Teenager living in rural western North Carolina. Had limitless wilderness to play in and the time to do it. Good friends from my scouting troop and some hippy leaders that let us get away with murder. They took us on some crazy trips that probably would not fly today.

2nd round: Out of high school, first couple of years in “college.” Played in rock bands, partied a lot, worried about nothing.

3rd round: late twenties, established at work and had a lot of good coworker friends my age. We were all single and went on motorcycling adventures, drank a little too much. No real responsibility except for our jobs. Weekdays I would get off work and mountain bike for a few hours almost every day. Slowly we all started getting hitched and popping out kids. Responsibilities at work increased for all of us. That ended that.

I have not really had any time in my life that was only positive with no negatives tinging the memory, but I suppose that’s not the point. I definitely have some time periods I look back on fondly.

At the very, very beginning of high school, I was really happily surprised when some of the older kids accepted me as a friend. I loved being a “band geek” and felt like I had found a “place” for myself in the social order at school. I also began to genuinely like myself and have some confidence for the first time since puberty. I was over the moon with happiness for a few months. Then I got sick for the first time shortly thereafter and absolutely everything got jumbled and strange. My memories of that first sickness aren’t negative, though, as I didn’t understand yet that it was going to be a chronic problem and I was pleased with all the attention and support I got during my illness, and after I recovered there was another happy time where I appreciated all the small things due to what I’d just been through. But after freshman year, the rest of high school was pretty rough.

I went to college for 2 months when I was 18, got sick, dropped out, had surgery for 15 months, went back. That return was another very sweet time in my life. It felt so good to get a move-on with my life after 15 months of living at home, and I was so proud that I transitioned back to college successfully after the epic failure that was my first 2-month stint. I was basically high as shit on that feeling for 2 straight years; that’s a level of happiness I have not been able to attain at any point since. I participated in a comedy group during those years, and I look back really fondly on some of the antics that went down in that group. That time period is marred by the bad relationship I was in at the time with one of the men from the comedy group, but that mistake doesn’t ruin the memories.

At the tail-end of my 2-year high in college came a time period in my life where everything was truly wonderful for 2 months. This was my school trip to Acadia national park; I and 15 of my classmates lived just outside the park for a summer and did work for them. What a beautiful time that was. Complete inner and outer peace. The only sadness was that it was time-boxed to 2 months.

Thanks for letting me ramble and reminisce, GQ.

The 70s were pretty good to me. Can’t remember most of it since I was drunk or high most of the time. Bought my first new car, bought my first house, got married (second time), and had my son. Traveled extensively for work but also had a lot of free time. Yeah the 70s were pretty good.

60’s and 70’s. No parental supervision. We figured the shit out on our own, or got hurt trying.

The 80’s were sweet for me while living in San Francisco. I was in my 30’s and racing fast in long distance foot races, wheeling and dealing in real-estate and dating lots of women. No drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Whenever I hear music from the 80’s I’m instantly transported back. It’s good to be young. HA!