Tribute to Mary Blaser and how the World is Different!

 A hundred years ago, back when we were kids, the world was a much different place.  Well, it wasn't quite a hundred years ago - it was only about half of that.  We didn't have computers - computer games - cell phones - smart phones - instant access to all of the information in the world at our fingertips and knew nothing of SOCIAL MEDIA.

For fun we actually had to play outdoors! You know, play: kick-the-can, hide-and-go seek until it got dark, build forts, hang out on front porches, fix cars and get dirty!  That was our way of being social... it actually meant being connected and making physical contact.

The internet was my front yard.

In the days we wore blue jeans with holes and fixed cars in the street.   In the days that if you needed to know something, you had to ask someone or look it up in an encyclopedia - because there was no YouTube "how to" videos!


This was back when kids climbed and people got hurt...That's the way it was back then...

Back in the day that we knew our neighbor and hung out with our neighbors...sang songs and did skits in the front lawn...

...smoked out in the backyard 

and just about everywhere else for that matter...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ...played practical jokes - (not just video games) but did silly things like making a kid hang on the bucket in a well or stashed in a hamper, or electrocuting nuns or kids , and dressing up and stealing Edna's avocados. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ...went fishing together...  (pictured: Erick, Mark and Tommy with his big catch - in front of Blaser house). 

There was no 911 - and no cell phones - and no instant access to everything you need when you desperately needed it... It made finding parents more difficult and emergency-response slower which should have made those times more dangerous... I almost died a couple times because of it - but we lived through it!

* And it was also a time that we did lots of stupid stuff like racing over the Venice canals when cars could still traveled over them in both directions...what were we thinking and how did world survive?  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The other thing we did in our form of social networking was to practically live in each other's homes. 

Our parents even went into business together: DAHLIN/BLASER Reality!  

Today, there is very little adventure. People drive hot rods on computer games and talk to people half-way around the world, but barely make contact with the person next door. They do all of this all from the safety of their couch and insulated from true physical contact.  Today, there is good chance that you don't know your next door neighbor... but back then you knew all your neighbors. You knew what they were having for dinner... you knew whether they would be watching the Lennon Sisters on TV or Perry Mason, or Star Trek or Bonanza.  None of that had to be posted on Facebook and the parents of your best friends became like a second set of parents to you (you know the "It takes a whole village" kind-of-thing).
   

I hung out a lot at Tommy's house... slept in his fort... ate their food... 

and a lot of people hung out at my house. 

...and back then, other adults in the neighborhood could tell you what to do and what not to do!  Mrs. Blaser, more than any other mother on our street was like my second mom. Her food was always better than ours - well they actually had meals at their house and she was a great cook! Her chili tradition on Halloween was the best!  She had a way of interrogating Tommy and Jeffery and me... She would always say to Tommy just after I had just gotten him to do something stupid, "Tommy, if Mark jumped from a ten story building, it doesn't mean you have to jump from a ten story building."  

She had a strong moral compass. She didn't want me or Tommy or her kids saying the "Darn" word and were threatened to have our mouths washed out with soap. 

She was practical. Always asking Tommy what color the water was of our pool before she would allow him to swim in it, "is the water green and is it filled with mosquito larva?"  she would ask. The only problem was she never asked about how many of the older Dahlin boys were hanging out in our backyard when he wanted to come over and swim in our pool. Which meant that although the water was clear - she couldn't prevent him from being electrocuted along with Karin, (little) Mary Blaser and me.  

She was kind.  When I was pushed through the front window next their entrance door - she treated me with compassion instead of yelling at me for breaking their window. 

                                                                                            She cared. She is the one who called me and said that our stupid dog, Bluin, was begin attacked by the Veloci-attack-rooster.  The Veloci-Raptor was responsible for giving the poor dog a frontal lobotomy, but Mrs. Blaser was responsible for savings its life. 

She never tried to get even!  She didn't do anything nasty to us for throwing the skunk "stink-sacks" over the fence into the mouth of Ginger, the eager collie, who was anxiously waiting to attack and bite into the potent scrumptious gizzards of the toxic smelling road kill  - THAT - Ginger lovingly brought into the house as a gift to share with the entire family.  

Mrs. Blaser was trusting! For some unknown and mysterious reason, Mrs. B allowed me to take her youngest kids - her most precious jewels - four wheel driving and off to Kings River teaching Michael to water ski behind a 15 horse power motor.                                                                                                                                               Boat accidents and plenty of misadventures                                                                                                                                                                         And...for some reason we always made it back alive and in one piece.    MIRACLE! 

Like the time I had every single kid on Harding Avenue in the back of my K5 Chevy Blazer for one of my infamous and illegal midnight beach escapades... WHEN... my big-block racing-motor cut out with the police racing down the bike path in Playa Del Rey - lights on and sirens blaring in hot pursuit. I had no choice, but to kick all 23 kids out of the back of my Chevy Blazer and made them push the gas-starved beast out of a huge sand hole. However, when the engine suddenly roared back to life I left a trail of Harding kids in the dust cloud and stranded on the beach - in the middle of the night! To this day - I have no idea how I managed to outrun the cops and also how I managed to regroup with all the scattered kids that ran off in a hundred different directions at the Playa Del Rey stables without any kind of contingency plan in place.

P.S. Don't tell Mrs. Tripp, or Mrs. Nargie or Mrs. MacClain or any of the other moms... shssss our secret!   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Mrs. Blaser was giving. She gave us the use of her backyard for my wedding reception.  For numerous functions and for fourth of July fireworks (not to mention the time where the invited Dahlins nearly burned down the apartment building behind her house)... Whew.. that was close!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ...AND for a thousand other things we did in that beautiful backyard and wonderful deck! 

...and for my dad's, "Mr. D's" final birthday celebration... 

We worked with each other over at Century 21 O'Donnell and Associates.                                                                                                                                                                                                             The ladies in front of my Mercedes 

We became friends and although I felt like I could call her Mary, I continued to call her Mrs. Blaser out of respect for my second mom who was Wise and Kind and Compassionate and Caring and Giving and Generous.  Thank you Mrs. Blaser for enriching my life - for adding value to our close-knit neighborhood... for your discipline... for your friendship... and for loving me - both when I was young as if I were one of your own...  

....and when I grew older.

I love you... Mrs. Blaser! I miss you and I'll see you on the other side!    Your other son - the kid from next door - Mark                                                                                                                     Oh, and I guess I should tell someone (specifically a Blaser), where the treasure trove of stolen lawn tools have been buried - the ones that had the orange "B"  painted on them - which we had sanded off - and repainted with the letter "D" instead.                                             "Forgive us our trespasses!" 

     *Venice canal picture posted on Facebook (I grew up in Venice) by Kelly Scarborough!