Don’t you love synchronicity? Serendipitous fun?

Do you take notice when it happens to you?

Hope these “blast from the past” phrases add wonder and a sense of historical connectedness/belongingness to your life, as they did for me.

Just the other day I was invited to lunch by a delightfully creative new friend, Barbara, at La Jolla Condominiums, Mismaloya, MX. The open-air restaurant there gifts a stunning, relaxing vista overlooking the bay. Floral and mountain range beauty pleasure you, no matter which view you savor.

The owner’s adorable little 4-year-old Mexican girl was practicing her English with me. Great fun. When my friend and I left the restaurant, I chirped, “See ya later, alligator!” She giggled with glee. I asked her if she knew what an alligator was. She shrugged. I used my hands to make the mouth, and I scrunched down to the ground and moved like an alligator. It cracked her up. She chortled. “Yeah! I know!”

Humor. Kids. Good food. Beauty. “Stopping to smell the roses” is great!

Imagine my surprise when today I received this “Good Ole Days” prose from one of my best friends since elementary school in Delaware, Susie Fair Engler. She sends me the coolest writings. I am blessed to be in frequent contact with her. Sharing is caring, yes, indeed.

As you read through the writing, perhaps it will warm your heart and tickle your innards, too, no matter what your age.

Did you hear your parents say these phrases?

Or maybe you continue to use some of them yourself. If so, delight in my joyful positive reminiscing. Pausing in life is always good and healthy, too, especially if humor is involved. Some research indicates humor and other positive emotions add several happy years onto your life. Knowing every one of these phrases splashed a sweet smile upon my face.

Mindfully looking for the good, YOUR good, adds to your flourishing and positivity. Humor is paramount for you to live “The Good Life” according to famed psychologists, Drs. Chris Peterson and Marty Seligman. And remember it is one of the 10 Positive Emotions you need to thrive.

I don’t know the author, but here you go, a nest egg of nostalgia:

The other day, a not so elderly lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy. He looked at her quizzically and said, “What the heck is a Jalopy?” He had never heard of the word, “Jalopy!” He was old, but not that old.

Well, I hope you are “Hunky Dory” after you read this and chuckle.

These phrases included: “Don’t touch that dial”; “Carbon copy”; “You sound like a broken record”; and “Hung out to dry”; “They’re as close as two peas in a pod”; and “Tag, you’re it!”

Back then, we had “A lot of moxie.”; “We’d put on our best bib and tucker”; “To straighten up and fly right”; “Heavens to Betsy!”; “Gee whillikers!”; “Jumping Jehoshaphat!”; and “Holy Moley!”

We were: “In like Flynn” and “Living the life of Riley”; and even “A regular guy” couldn’t accuse us of being a “knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill”. “Not for all the tea in China!”

Back then, life used to be “Swell”, but when’s the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of “Beehives, pageboys and the D.A.”; of “Spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here”; but he isn’t anymore.

We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!” or, “This is a fine kettle of fish,” we discover the words and expressions we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues, our pens and our keyboards.

Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we’ve left behind. Where have all those phrases gone? Long gone, “The milkman did it. Hey, it’s your nickel. Don’t forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper. Fiddlesticks! I’ll see you in the funny papers.” And “Don’t take any wooden nickels.”

If you did have a nickel, you were tickled to buy “Penny candy.”

And hey you “little tadpole” kids, “Children should be seen and not heard! Do you want me to get the switch? Or would you rather go to the woodshed?”

Yeah, dad, “But the devil made me do it!” Can you image these phrase now?

It turns out, there are more of these lost linguistics and expressions than “Cat got your tongue?” or “More than Carter has little liver pills.”

How our lexicon has changed our cool phrases, “Gone with the wind.”

“See you later, alligator!”

Author unknown (which is good as I added a few phrases myself!)

“See ya later, alligator,” the fun phrase I had just used with the little girl, “Stood out like a sore thumb” to me! Hope it “Tickled your innards!” too.

What other phrases do you remember from your childhood?

If you aren’t as old as I am, maybe you will be shaking your head. Humor. Fun is seriously important! :)

And speaking of that, I just turned 69! Jokes welcomed! Last year my best male friends in Vallarta, humorous and generous Mark Ledet, along with his also lovely, talented husband, Dr. Ivan Sherman, shocked me with the most dynamite surprise birthday party. Mariachis, live music, and the whole shebang! And my dear, loving New Orleans friend, Brenda Breck, there to boot. A real “WOW!”

After the party, and all of us enjoying the huge, yummy sparkler-bestowed rich chocolate cake, talented baker and chef, Mark, had stirred up, he surprised me yet again. Smiling, he brought out of hiding a smaller carrot cake, my favorite, bestowed with 69 on it. He knew I was 68, but he had to add to my fun. He teased me, giggling with his New Orleans accent, “I wanted you to have an extra year before you really turn 69!” Oh, Mark is the best kind of naughty!

Enjoy your spring. I hope it is “fancy free.” (Remember that one?)

Hugs from Puerto Vallarta,

Judy