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We weren't home afternoons parked on our butts in front of the TV, laps full of toxic junk food, either...

We were down at the creek hunting frogs with bows & arrows, or cooling off jumping off a tire swing down at the river, if we could talk our teenage brother/sister into taking us along...

Wearing arms out on ice cream machines...

We were picking up old Coke bottles to cash in for spending money...

Playing kick the can or riding our bikes (with the requisite playing card fastened in the spoke with a clothespin) until after dusk, when the porch lights began to come on...

We mowed the neighbors' lawns, babysitted for them & cleaned up dog poop from their yards, just for spending money to do something we wanted.

If we got a skinned knee, we rubbed dirt on it.

We knew better than to ask for the money; we preferred the pride of knowing we had EARNED it.

That was us!