Childhood

As we drove down our neighborhood street, I asked Mike what the pink stick in our neighbor's yard meant. He told me that it showed the bus drivers that a kindergartener lived there. Then a moment later he asked, "Who would make a kindergartener ride the bus?" I quickly answered, "I did." Not only did I ride the bus, but I would come home to an empty house sometimes...we kept the key to the house hidden behind the deep freeze in the garage. As I remembered back to my kindergarten years, I realized how much safer we were back then. Back when it was okay to leave a 5 year old at home alone for a few minutes...that was nearly 20 years ago (I feel really old being able to say that).

And of course, after thinking about that, my mind began to wander back to the time when I was a child...how safe I felt, and how carefree everything was. My sister and I would go back into the woods with all of the neighborhood kids and play for hours without even thinking about checking in with Mom. Audrey and I would camp out in our backyard for days hoping Dad wasn't praying for rain. We would ride our bikes up to the school and play on the toys or walk around the track around the school. I can even remember walking from the junior high all the way to Braum's with Laura during the summer. We were too tired to walk all the way back, so we went to her Grandma's house and had her take us back to the school. Does that make my mom and dad bad parents? Of course not...it was just a much different world back then...

Oh to be young again...where bills were nonexistant and gas was simply something the kid next to you in class suffered from. And everyone giggled because it was funny. Where the most important thing was whose house you would spend the night at that weekend or who won the basketball game the night before. Where Barbies were cool to play with and SuperMario Brothers was a luxery. Where the kid who had a computer in his house was the richest kid in the class. Where holiday parties at school meant homemade treats and costumes. Or where any place was a good place for an imagination. And where Mom or Dad would meet me halfway on the walk home from school with a snack prepared at home in the kitchen.

Life was good back then. Life was enjoyable with no worries. Memories are great things. I am happy to say that I have good ones...especially from my childhood. May we all take the time to remember the carefreeness of our childhood, look back, and smile.

P.S. We made it to day 11 of blogging... :)