Shoop, Shoop

We were driving down the street last night when Mr. Ginley whooped.

Miss Swivel Hips*

"Hey, somebody back there was playing with a Hula Hoop!"

Boy, howdy, did that take me back.

It's hard to explain to someone not of our generation how cool the Hula Hoop was. My sisters and I each had one. I spent hours spinning it around my waist. Ah, those were the days. When I had a waist.

For the uninitiated, the Hula Hoop was a circular tube with some kind of magic inside that made a "shoop-shoop" sound as you wiggled your hips and tried to keep it aloft. You could do tricks with it, too. If you spun it on its side, you could get it to come back to you.

Seriously, this was cool stuff in the beforetimes.

Of course, these days, I'm sure the Hula Hoop would be looked upon with disdain, much like jump rope and Kick the Can and Red Light, Green Light and tag.

But once upon a time, it was a prized possession.

For years, I kept it in the basement here. I even tried to get my kid interested in it. No such luck. I don't remember who I gave it to, or if I threw it away. Once I had a baby and my waist went away, so did my ability to rock the Hoop.

Ah, well.

I'll just have to be content to hear the shoop-shoop sound in my dreams. 

 

*My Mom wrote the caption for this photo.