One of the advantages to being an aging Baby Boomer is the enlightenment one achieves with age. This morning while reading a story on how some school districts have banned the playground game "tag" (sigh) I was trying to remember other "dangerous" games we played way back when.

Hide and seek came to mind and I began to wonder the origin of "Ollie Ollie Oxen Free" (yelled when the seeker finally gives up and everyone comes in for round two.) It seems the phrase is possibly a corruption of the German "Alle, alle auch sind frei", (literally, "Everyone, everyone also is free").

OK, so on to the next mystery - a song my mother used to sing to us - "Mairzy Doats And Dozy Doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?" I found out years ago that the literal translation is: "Mares eat oats And does eat oats And little lambs eat ivy. A kid will eat ivy too, Wouldn't you?" (sigh) I liked my mother's version better.

Got any childhood phrase corruptions of your own? Discuss them in the link below.

This comes up in our house now and then. To go gray or stay a youthful red? Even if the youthful red is being chemically enhanced. On the one hand, I think of my grandmother who was a vibrant blondish-gold well into her 90's. Did anyone really believe that was her natural color? On the other hand, do I want to look like my husband is dating his elderly great-aunt? Is it about vanity or marketability? And if it's marketability, are we all warily looking at the double standard? Gray-haired men are 'distinguished.' Gray-haired women are old. Follow the debate in this article on Time.com.

By Ron Enderland

Most everyone, Boomer or not, can recall the first time they fell in love. I certainly do.

I was five years old, and watching the Mickey Mouse Show when Annette (I didn't know her last name) appeared on our black-and-white television. What a beautiful young lady.

The Mickey Mouse Show is a strong memory in the minds of a wide range of Boomers. That's because it was rerun after its initial life, so youngsters like myself who missed its original 1955-59 run could enjoy it after school like their older brothers and sisters did.

Walt Disney, who had already scored big in movies and amusement parks (well, just one amusement park in those days), proved to be a television genius as well. His Sunday night show, whose name kept changing, was a strong, long-lived hit. His second shot at a series was this one. And its immortality is its legacy, even though the show itself ran a mere three years. A fourth season was produced by re-airing earlier episodes.