Obstacles, Treasures and Dreams

Friday, August 2, 2013

You know how thoughts come to you in the shower? I was thinking about writing my blog and envisioned it starting, “As I sit in my backyard on this cool, summer morning, I remember my own…..”  Then I started thinking about my childhood and writing down my thoughts, so I didn’t actually make it outside because I was too excited to get started.  Let’s pretend that I am not sitting in my bedroom writing, but that a warm summer breeze (a zephyr, dare I say?) is weaving its way through my hair and in between my fingers as I reminisce.

I see the large, wooden play set that my dad built that still stands to this day and I remember running “obstacle courses” through it: up the webbed rope, down the slide, along the bridge and sprinting to the top.  I can’t believe the bridge hasn’t collapsed after all of these years of us catapulting each other from it while screaming, “donkey log!” Why we screamed donkey log….I don’t think we will ever know.  Cherry bomb was also a favorite game of ours. Oh, and we loved swinging as high as we could just to see if we could get one of the swing-set’s legs to jump off the ground on one of our up-swings.

I see the strange tree with the hollowed-out trunk near our back fence where we used to play house.  I always wanted to be the mom or…. the sick kid.  It was always one or the other.  Ha! And, I had a broom that I would use to sweep out the dirt floor. We truly had imaginations when we were little.

I see the decapitated Barbies strewn along the yard. Our dog, Rex, used to love to chew on their heads, but we kept them and played with them anyway.  Oh, and who could forget Rooster Barbie?! Danielle certainly did give her a great haircut!

The area behind the shed was our treasure trove. We’d go digging and excavating, expecting to find dinosaur bones, a memory box or something that hadn’t been uncovered for hundreds of years! What we found were some broken mason jars and maybe a coin or two, but we were positive that they were worth a fortune and very, very old.

Our imaginations, as children, bring us to far away places, tell us stories and let us dream about our futures. And, as I “sit outside,” or, rather, imagine myself gazing out into my own, current backyard, I think about all of the things Maddie is going to think up.  Where will her bright, little mind take her? What adventures will she embark upon? We are in for one, fun journey!