Earle Hagen...

Who is Earle Hagen?.. He is responsible for co writing, AND whistling, "The Fishin' Hole", the theme to the Andy Griffith Show.

The Andy Griffith Show ran from October '60 thru April '68, but it seems like it ran forever. Americana. A better day. Family. A simpler time. A world with no evil. Moral. Friendly. Laid back. Simple.

I remember.

I remember the family gathering to watch. I remember the era.

Whiffle ball. Mom's and a 5 cent pack of Kool-aid/sugar/pitcher/neighbor kids - what better? "First one to see the street lights on!"..."Owe me a coke!"

Hide and seek. Kick the can. Give up? "Allleee alleeee in free!" Mood rings. The Beatles. Ed Sullivan. Johnny Carson. Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Laugh In, NASA, the Peace Symbol. Chinese Fire Drills. Gum wrapper chains. Finding 4 leaf clovers. Bond, James Bond.

Honesty. Yes sir. Yes ma'am. No sir. No ma'am.

Enter Earle Hagen's whistling theme here...........

Polaroids. Black and white, with no conception, exception of color. (FYI seasons 1 - 5 B/W, 6-8 in color.) Very coincidentally, a transition of same in real life - and thankfully, we were too young to be "handed down" discrimination.)

Baseball cards with a clothespin on your bike to make cool noises as they hit your spokes as u rode. Iron on patches for holes in the knees of our jeans. No Game Boys, Play Stations, Nintendo, Leapfrog, cell phones, etc.... we had a hose and sprinkler.. two tin cans and a long string.. a slip and slide.. water balloons. roller skates..slinkies.. . roller skates nailed onto a sheet of plywood for a 'skateboard'... Chalk/sidewalk. Twister. Ouija boards. Superballs.

Chores. Worry upon Parent-Teacher conferences results thereof.. Respect.. If you got in trouble, word got around town "faster'n Facebook". If there was a ne'er do well around- word got out quick, and you avoided this person.

Little League - one game a week, the excitement was crazy (versus three games during the week, and tourneys on weekends, no idea who your opponents are)...

If the "twice the size" school bully slid off the teeter-totter in it's down position, there were no lawsuits. An older brother usually took care of it. Just the fact of even having teeter totters, yes, the era.

Town gatherings on Holidays. The Square. We had our Floyd. We had our Howard. We had our Snoozy putting gas in our car. We had town characters, just as Mayberry did. We managed to drive across town ok with just Stop Signs.

We waived at every other car. Girls played with dolls, guys played with marbles. Innocent. Teachers, coaches, were role models like Andy Griffith.

Who out there cannot smile, look back with good feel when you hear Earle Hagen whistle that?

I don't suggest, "we're better" (our age).. I don't suggest kids nowadays aren't special. OH MY THEY ARE!... I don't suggest "our time" was a better time than now. I am not saying kids don't have wonderful opportunities, role models today.

I will say, I couldn't have picked a better time/era to grow up in... and Mr. Andy Griffith, a piece of you will always live on within those of us from this era. You were our Grundy Newton, our China Slaughter.. our Mabel Weakley... Our Chief Collins.. Our guidance.

Enter Earle Hagen whistling here.

Love, Victurd.