That summer was pretty cool. My mom, grandmother, brother and I went to Disneyworld for their Bicentennial Celebration. America's Bicentennial was all anybody seemed to talk about that summer; they even made Bicentennial quarters, which were pretty neat.
Click here for some images of Disney's Bicentennial Parade from 1976.
I was a voracious reader as a kid, much as I am now. One of my favorite places to hang out was the public library. Back then, library cards were a little different - kids got a separate card, which only let them check out books from the kids' section. That was fine for most kids, but my reading level was that of a high-schooler, and the little kid books bored the hell out of me. The teen section was so forbidden, yet so amazing. Judy Bloom, Norma Klein - they wrote the books I was dying to read.
The day finally came when my mom signed that precious teen section card for me. Then my friend Trina and I were taken by her mom to the library. On the way, "Silly Love Songs" played on the radio, and of course we sang along. I'm sure her mom loved it. We spent a good hour in the library that day, Trina and her mom in the kids' section, me in the teen section. I left with an armful of books that I knew I'd devour in days. I couldn't wait to go back.
"Silly Love Songs" will always take me back to that day. I remember Trina saying the beginning scared her a bit because of the chains that sounded like a ghost haunting. But she was a little younger than I was, so I didn't pay any attention to her silliness.
Since 1990, I've seen Paul McCartney in concert five times. Number six will be next month, when my mother-in-law, my youngest daughter Becca and I go see him at Yankee Stadium in New York. Can't wait!
Great article, as ever, Sheri. I was only 7, but I remember a TV show called "Centennial", with (I think) Robert Conrad. Over here, 1976 was the year of the big drought and that's all we get to talk about!
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