MARK MY WORD: POSTAL SERVICE STICKS TO PAST, `HAPPY DAYS' ARE HERE

The votes are in. Americans' best memory of the 1950s is the drive-in movie.

At least, that's what the Postal Service tells us.

Americans, it seems, still have fond memories of crunching gravel, tinny speakers, bad hot dogs and fun and games in the back seats of those hot rods of yesteryear.

The post office asked the public to vote earlier this year on the subjects they most wanted to see on a series of stamps commemorating the "Happy Days" decade.

More than 800,000 people voted. After all, when it comes to important issues, Americans still like to vote. It's just when we have to vote for politicians that we tend to have amnesia on election day.

At any rate, the drive-ins proved to be the darling of the decade, followed by the "I Love Lucy" television series.

The sitcom has proved immortal. It still can be found in reruns on cable and local stations across the country.

Third place went to Dr. Seuss' book, "The Cat in the Hat."

What this clearly shows is that our oldest daughter, 6-year-old Becca, should have been born in the '50s.

She loves "Lucy" and Dr. Seuss books. She probably would love poodle skirts too.

If it weren't for the 1950s sitcoms, we'd have a whole lot fewer shows to watch on cable television.

Hollywood's tribute to the 1950s, the musical "Grease," is back in movie theaters.

There's just something about all that leather and beauty school stuff that makes us feel good about that decade. Even those Americans who weren't born then have a strange affinity for Elvis and '50s memorabilia.

Back then, smoking was an icon and alcohol awareness was measured by the size of the party.

The post office plans to remember our past -- at least some of it -- in a series of "Celebrate the Century" stamps.

Voting will take place in May to determine what Americans want to remember from the decade of the 1960s.

I guess bell-bottoms will be making a comeback.

Perhaps in the new millennium, we will be sticking the '90s on our envelopes.

You have to wonder just what will be remembered about this decade.

Will Barney, the purple dinosaur, be the post office's poster child of the 1990s?

Our youngest daughter, 2-year-old Bailey, certainly would agree with that. She loves the dancing dinosaur.

Personally, I think that disposable diapers ought to be honored somewhere along the line.

Without disposable diapers, parents wouldn't have time to think about their favorite things of bygone decades.

Of course, even the post office might have trouble getting us to stick to our memories.

We don't write letters as often as we used to do. The telephone and electronic mail have replaced snail mail.

There's no room for sticky stamps in today's information age. We don't have time to reflect on the past. We'd prefer to remember the future before it even happens.

But for those of us who still buy stamps, the past may be catching up to us. At the very least, it could be in the mail.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.