I loved sweeping the sidewalk with a new straw broom
I loved the feeling of walking into a freshly painted room
I loved the break of winter with the first warm day of spring
I loved the hope that sunrise and a brand new day would bring

I loved the smell of rainfall as it washed the dirty street
the cool beneath the boardwalk and the escape from summer heat
I loved collecting many charms from penny gum machines
and answering exciting ads in the back of magazines

I loved wearing PF Flyers and a brand new baseball mitt
I loved to watch the Dodgers and the bleachers where we’d sit
I loved to ride the subway, ride up front and watch the track
I loved to open the paper bag and see the lunch my Mom would pack
I loved to search through vacant lots and create things using wit
the thrill you got each time the firecracker fuse was lit
flying kites, and lightning bugs, and sleeping in the park
watching the Colonel run, wag his tail, and the way he’d bark

I loved buttered toast and Coco and watching falling snow
Eight cartoons and a feature film, for a quarter at the movie show
It seemed I lived a lifetime, when I was ten in fifty-six
We never heard of High-Tech, but there was nothing Dad could not fix. -id