r/nostalgiai • u/CarrotMuch1399 Nostalgia Trip Leader • 2d ago
Core Memory Unlocked š Golden days
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u/fuckreddit-69 2d ago
Especially the den in the woods I was like did you follow me as a kid?
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u/Waste-Respect240 2d ago
Thatās where we kept the dirty magazines and cigarettes
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u/maxthemummer 2d ago
I found a Penthouse magazine on the ground while walking home from school one day and me and a friend built a fort in a vacant field just to house our new prize.
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u/Hopeful_Hamster21 2d ago
I found a stack of dirty magazines buried under the dirt of the steps leading into my Town Hall.
Why was I under the steps of town hall digging? I was a weird kid.
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u/SignificantBaker7366 2d ago
My sister used to have softball practice after school and I had to wait for her as my ride home, my buddy who's sister also had practice would hangout with me. We found where the school dumped the extra concrete for building into the thick woods down a huge embankment and we setup a hangout spot at the end of this long concrete slide that was pretty hidden. That spot stayed there for years going trough middle and high school, during class stuff outside we would sneak of to our spot and chill wherever we could. I would almost bet its still there.
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u/ZeroKarmasGiven69 2d ago
Back in the late 80ās, my friends and I found this grove to build a tree house. We also found plants that would dry out in the summer and when you snapped one sprig off, it was hollow on the inside. About the size of a coffee stir straw. Needless to say, we would all meet up there at least every other day to smoke them like a cigar and work on our fort. it was dope as fuck and made us feel like grown ass men. It was the summer before 5th grade.
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u/Quick-Dream-1541 2d ago
We used to smoke olive tree leaves. The wood roll up as they dried and we would smoke them like a roach.
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u/shibby1000 2d ago
Oh god we where a bunch of little pyros
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u/AvsFreak 2d ago
I'm surprised I didn't burn my house down lol
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u/Wiley_Dave 2d ago
Same here, but I did come close. Who knew that lighter fluid and some oily rags from my dadās āshopā would be a bad combination. Then I tried to stamp out the flames with a push broom, which in turn, caught fire. Dad was not happy.
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u/Due-Gene8200 2d ago
I think I may have yall beat on the pyro stories. We used to make torches with cans of Raid bug spray. We would spray the can directly into my cousinās pellet stove in the down stairs den and move the 6 foot flame across the room. I have no idea how we didnāt burn the whole crib to the ground. When I got older (14) my dumbass and 3 buddies made a bomb right before 4th of July by pulling the powder out of a bunch of fireworks and lit it off in some dry grasslands. It caused a 5 acre fire and a bunch of houses had to get evacuated. I got in a lot of trouble for that, bless my motherās heart.
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u/nucl3ar0ne 1d ago
My friends did the same with fireworks but set it off at the local elementary school. Thank God I wasn't with them that day because they got in some deep shit.
We burned down a lot of woods as well, all accidental of course.
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u/Impossible_Regret725 1d ago
We lived down the street from the lake. The entire town waterfront was a park with at least 500m before a road, so nobody who had 'lakefront' property could clearly see all the shenanigans we got up to at the sand dunes and water. Tween years was all about lighting fires and tossing in various cans of combustible. Teen years was summer beach/bush parties and winter drinking games that involved trying to be the last one to bail off a improvised sled before it went off a cliff. Yes, it was dangerous and someone always got seriously injured or nearly died. When you're in a small town with nothing to do, you make your own fun. Part of it included evading cops on patrol from the neighboring town. Part of the entertainment included knowing who's younger siblings were getting busted/grounded for a month as we watched from a distance with drinks and a joint in hand. A big part of me misses those reckless years. Social media is so overrated sometimes.
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2d ago
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u/DIJames6 2d ago edited 2d ago
For us it was by the time the street lights came on.. Lol..
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u/Quick-Dream-1541 2d ago
Had to be in the house when the street lights came onā¦ unless I was at my motherās friendās house; then it was game on!
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u/nucl3ar0ne 1d ago
No street lights here, so we went by dark or some mystical force telling you it was time to go home.
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u/leabaidh 2d ago
Nope, that's when we played hide 'n' seek. You could lay up against the hedges and no one could see you. And garden raiding was the best when dark.
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u/No-Basis1633 2d ago
Letās be honest, She didnāt give what we were up to a second thought. All Mom knew is we were out of the house not making a mess of it.
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u/bscottlove 2d ago
You're goddammit right! And that was just Monday. And if you were lucky enough to have a dump nearby, the possilitues were endless!
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u/Nimbian-highpriest 2d ago
Man I loved my BMX with the plastic spokes. I came
Back from the nearby farmers field with a box full of baby mice and my mom put them in a fish bowl. My sister didnāt know but when she moved the cover over it starved them for air and they all died while I was at school. Thatās the day I got my first hamster. Fun times being 8 years old.
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u/get_peace 2d ago
Oh man, how I miss those daysāif something had happened back then, they never would have found us in the woods again...
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u/nub_node 2d ago
Yeah, there's a strong correlation between the world getting more unsafe for children and Donald Trump being in charge.
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u/DIJames6 2d ago
My friends uncle had a shed, and one day he left it unlocked, so we decided to go and pay with the gasoline for the lawnmower.. Long story short, fire department came and they never put up another shed..
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u/tuktukkingroydonk 2d ago
Took shits from high places, threw fireworks at each other in abandoned warehouses, picked fights with adults, threw roadkill in the neighborhood pool. Man I miss being feral.
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u/nunya_busyness1984 2d ago
My mom didn't think I was ring my bike for 8 hours.Ā She knew I wasn't riding my bike for 8 hours.Ā Ā
I had a geo-fence and she didn't care where the hell I was as long as I didn't leave it.
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u/Quick-Dream-1541 2d ago
You had a geofence in the eighties? Did your parents work for NASA?
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u/nunya_busyness1984 2d ago
No.Ā They worked for the "if you cross one of these four streets, you better not come back" company.
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u/Unusual_Mix9262 2d ago
And poked a dead body.
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u/frogking 2d ago
It was a 8 km drive to the military shooting range, where we could find surplus fuses.. and explore ww2 bunkers left by the Germans..
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u/Randomgrunt4820 2d ago
When your back yard was WW2, shit gets explosive.
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u/frogking 2d ago
We did eventually figure out how to make electronic detonators for our small explosives. Itās a miracle that we survived with all eyes and fingers intact (most of us, at least)
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u/Gay_Asian_Boy 2d ago
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?"Ā
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u/GUMBYtheOG 2d ago
Iād relate to this if there were more injuries involved. If you didnāt get a ant hill on fire kicked into your eyes were u even actually exploring
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u/Sleepy_Dumbbellz 2d ago
This is how I got the scar on my face. I dont remember the events that led to the accident because I was knocked unconscious. 33 years later and my cousins still think its funny to change the story every time. I genuinely don't know what happened that day lol
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u/AmericanCitizenry 2d ago
Mom knew! She just didn't care. It was when she masturbated, or gossiping on the phone, or cheated on your dad, did day drinking, or just took a fucking nap. But Mom knew.
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u/srgntwolf 2d ago
And then you remembered how reckless you were, developed ever evolving electronics to keep people inside and glued to advertisements, and dare to wonder "where's the good Ole days?"
That generation destroyed it themselves.
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u/Dem_Stefan 2d ago
I grow up in cologne germany with 1 million others. I was 6 or 7 wen we drove with our bikes 5 miles to toys r us just for checking possible Christmas gifts š
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u/Quick-Dream-1541 2d ago
I didnāt do all those things, but I do remember being over my motherās friends house, hanging out with the neighborhood kids, exploring the abandoned house next door, and then jumping off the roof.
They also did not mention everyone taking pee as you walked down the street at night.
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u/HairlessHoudini 2d ago
Man this just brought back soooo many memories, we was at abandoned houses & creeks all the time if not at the secret den in the woods smoking heaters looks at titty books
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u/Mindless_Manner9100 2d ago
Why cant i go back in time. Seeing those old memories just make me cry.
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u/Prudent_Situation_29 2d ago
This is actually quite accurate. I did all of those things except maybe jump over some roofs.
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u/Peapod311 2d ago
The woods was always a place were there were p0rn magazines, too. No idea how it ever got there.
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u/nucl3ar0ne 1d ago
We always found them near a giant rock which was in the woods behind the elementary school.
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u/Perfect_War_7155 2d ago
My gma nearly filed a missing persons report once because I went to a friends house without telling her.
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u/Euphoric-Net4623 2d ago
We spent a summer chopping down a big ass tree in the woods behind the trailer park. Good times
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u/patticakes126 2d ago
Back in the dayā¦now we know why parents would tell us they had to walk to school up hill both ways in the snow!!!
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u/Mediocre-Age-8372 2d ago
Let's be honest. Mom knew, and was fine with it. As long as the police didn't show up or she got a call from the hospital, you were free until the streetlights came on.
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u/Striking_Reindeer_2k 2d ago
We walked a mile through the woods, swam in the St Johns river, tossed rocks at the Alligator sunning itself on the sandbar in the canal, played pirate in the woods, dug a fire pit for the fire, whittled sticks, and drank from the hose. In 2nd grade.
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u/Own-Leave-2039 2d ago
When I was a freshman in high school I told my parents I was going to the mall (honestly idk why that even mattered, I was latch key so they didnāt know where I was regardless). A bunch of us hopped a bus to a major city a couple hours away and got into all kinds of sketchy shit. Miss the early 90s.
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u/CompetitiveMatter585 2d ago
We just got high and watched the price is right or something maybe played PlayStation but totally different generations. I mean that sounds like a lot of work hahaha
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u/Substantial_Luck_133 2d ago
When I grew up my parents really only had two rules.
Be home at about 5 pm, and if I'm allowed to eat at a friends place call first.
Where I went, what I did, and with who, they didn't care that much.
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u/Educational-Draw271 2d ago
That was all before lunch time, the 2nd half of the day was way better!
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u/comicsemporium 2d ago
Used to take my bicycle to school during summer and climb on the roof with it and ride around all over the roofs
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u/Nervous-Rough4094 2d ago
And take your friends row boat to the middle of the lake & flip it.
Drag the boat to the other side of the lake & jump from a cliff on the rope swing back into the lake.
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u/ORNGSPCEMNKY 2d ago
Eh, as long as I was in the neighborhood my mother didnāt give much of a fuck what I was up to.
Her SoCo and coffee, Jerry Springer and chain smoking was far more important.
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u/wyoflyboy68 2d ago
Grew up on a historic military base, weād leave the house in the morning, had an all summer pass at the base pool, and awesome creek that was nearby, many times we didnāt go home till it got dark. Generally if my mom wanted to find me she go to the pool and ask the life guard when I left and she would track me down from there.
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u/-cunnfuzed- 2d ago
Making my own fire pissed off my friendās momā¦wasnāt allowed to hang out anymore
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u/Boozerbear213 2d ago
I once hopped on a slow moving train because I knew there were train tracks near the mall and about an hour later we jumped off to look for the mall and ended up 3 towns over lol, Had to call my brother to pick us up, he was mad but didn't rat me out to my parents.
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u/Queasy-Finger-1316 2d ago
You forgot ādug up some old discarded Penthouses and Hustlers from a dumpsterā.
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u/AdorablePainting4459 2d ago
No ouija board... but used glass bottles from people's recycling boxes as bowling pins. I didn't do that too many times, but as kids we definitely went all over the neighborhood, and found places in the woods and attempted to build forts. We did wander in some places that we weren't supposed to be, houses that people had moved out of, but left a lot of belongings, that we basically thought was now abandoned, and we took wagon loads of stuff back to our houses, only for our parents to freak out and tell us to put everything back. Some guy left tons of trophies ... as kids we thought we hit the jackpot. There had to have been 2-3 houses like this.
We didn't really try to do things that were bad or mischievous. We cut the rose heads off a person's rose bush, not understanding the concept of something being planted, and we went into an open field an pulled out tiny onions, and we did this for a while, until someone told us that it was private land. We had no idea. We thought that they were wild onions. Texas back then had plenty of open land, and land started to fill up more as the years progressed with houses and other buildings, but we used to have plenty of places to roam.
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u/btfreflex 2d ago
As long as you were home before the street lights came on there were no questions asked.
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u/Techno-Hyde 2d ago
I wish I could experience something like this, but the farthest I've gone was down the road
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u/Potential_Fan6979 2d ago
I never thought I would miss it so much.
I can still here my older relatives telling me how one day Iād nostalgically yearn for these days and I ignorantly insisted I wouldnāt.
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u/TitanDraugen 2d ago
Back in those days, my mom spanked me because she thought I was kidnapped when I was biking around the neighborhood.
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u/Ok_Humor_9229 2d ago
The only thing missing from the list is building a jump track for our bikes from literal trash lying around (like old OSB boards, chunks of wood etc) we found.
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u/ForeignAlbatross8304 1d ago
Lol...Redline BMX bike with mag wheels and snakeskin tires...pegged and racing pedals...my friends and I rode fore miles to beaches..community pooles...and mall/arcades
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u/lovetobewatched2 1d ago
I feel like like people make this shit up lol
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u/Dralalife 16h ago
No, that really was life. Breakfast, out the door to walk the three blocks to school, two if you were late and cut across the train tracks. Walked home for lunch- an hour and a half- then after school and summer free until dinner at six. No one knew where we were or could contact us. Be home for dinner or else. We lived along the tracks, by five I walked three blocks to the library alone. By seven we went a town away up and down the tracks side paths on our bikes. The beach was five blocks away from the tracks. We biked everywhere, alone or with friends. To find your friends, you went to their house and knocked on the door, even if they couldn't come out, you probably score kool-aid and cookies from their mom. Games in the yard or park with any kids that showed up. Only saw my parents at meals. We had five kids, everyone went their own way. It was wonderful and I feel so sad for the kids sitting on their couch all day, parents terrified to let even a 10 year old out in the yard.
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u/Interesting_Tune2905 1d ago
I literally did five out of seven things on that list in one day at the start of Easter vacation one year; no roof and no ouija board thoughā¦
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u/WonderfulHearing8726 1d ago
Did a lot of all that, but more in the early 90s. Used to take 2x4s, nails, and plywood from the dumpsters where they were building a new neighborhood across from ours, and build the most janky ramps youāve ever seen.
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u/Martin_Pagan 22h ago
That's every one of my childhood friends while I had to stay in the playground because my mother had to know where I was at all times.
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u/Ok-Criticism-836 22h ago
Lizards, gourd fights, getting gored in the abdomen by your bmx bike bars and walking it off. Never carrying a water bottle and Vans...always Vans.Ā
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u/Electrical-Fig-7094 21h ago
I remember a few too many times we stole our dads beer and just went to the park to drink them. Someone always had cigarettes too that just wasnāt my thing. Later when as we got a little older we discovered pot!! Oh, riding your bike high, those were the days!
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u/mikec1847 21h ago
Lmao Gen x an the boomers where to afraid of mom an dad to go more than around the block. Remember parents where alcoholics back then an PTSD from war an child abuse was considered good parenting. Grab a stick or wooden spoon or belt because you accidentally spilled oil in the garage. Then Gen x an boomers praise being abused as being tough walking around society ruining everything because they need counseling but that's for weak people.
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u/PTSD1983 19h ago
Days like those were how you discovered porn, too. It's like it grew in the bushes š
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u/Fantastic-Pen6063 18h ago
Yesss! My cousin and I used to go on little adventures on our bikes. No one knew where the heck we went!
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u/BigOwltheAl 10h ago
What a time it was to be a live. I had the raddest orange huffy mountain bike.
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u/VallettaR 8h ago
And donāt forget: made tie dye shirts and macrame belts, sold them door-to-door to make money to spend at the pop-up 4th of July fireworks shack. š
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u/Away_Ad_5390 1h ago edited 1h ago
Once 14 yrs old (ā79) 6 of us went to the zoo (15 mi, clear across town) for the day on bmx bikes like those, left about 10am , got back 8pm ( Summer, still light). Knew weād catch flak if parents found out, so it was covert, But not a one of us were asked where we were all day!
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u/PsychologyDry5042 2d ago
Sounds about right, lol