Hump Day Hindsight

Believe it or not, I’m not as far off the bell curve of normalcy as you might think. I’ve been slightly off-kilter as long as I can remember. I used to think it was a bad thing, but then I realized that I held in my hands an endangered species:  an imagination. 

When we were kids, we spent a lot of time at my granny’s house, and my cousins and I were always together. We weren't running to soccer games and lacrosse practice; we were seeing how far we could skip rocks. 

It never crossed our minds to ask to go to an expensive haunted house; we made our own in the lean-to behind her garage. If we wanted to see a movie, we piled up in the living room and messed with the rabbit ears until we could pick one up...if we were lucky.

Little Granny had a creek that flowed under the end of her long driveway, and it was our swimming hole. Now my aunt had a pool, but there's just something about squishing your toes in the mud that makes water play more fun. I swear, when we crossed that little arched bridge in her driveway, it was like crossing into a fairy tale world. 

My cousins would bring their go-carts, bikes, pogo balls of death, and anything else they had over there. The adults didn't have to ask us to go play; they had to beg us to come in and eat dinner. We had fun  in ways that I’m afraid my own kids won’t ever know. We made our own fun.

My granny had this awesome puke-green Plymouth station wagon, and it was our magic school bus. At that time, there were four of us grandkids, and we would pile up like cord wood in the back and go wherever she’d take us. I don’t know what we did that was so fun, but I remember laughing until I peed on myself more than once. What I wouldn't give for one more day of that... before life got to us. 

We had a Slip-n-Slide one summer that we got the bright idea to set up in her driveway...her bumpy, pea-gravel driveway. We’d hop on, shoot off the end of it, and get up looking like we’d exfoliated with a cheese grater. We couldn’t get back in line fast enough! 

One thing that’s different nowadays is that we could strip down to our underoos, and run outside without thinking twice. Even if you could’ve seen us from the road, it wouldn’t have mattered cause Herbert the Pervert wasn’t lurking around every corner back then.  The worst crime I’d ever heard of was my daddy putting sardines on the engine of his buddy’s car during his wedding.

We knew how to have clean, nondestructive fun back then. We climbed trees, and not cause the cops were chasing us.  We threw rocks at each other’s faces in the most loving way possible, not at people’s windshields. The only thing we ever thought about stealing was M&M’s out of granny’s covered candy dish. If you punched somebody in the liver, you got punched back. You didn't go to therapy to help you deal with your feelings from the incident; you learned not to punch anybody. 

If the weather was bad, we’d either play games rolling the balls back and forth on her pool table, trying to smash each other’s fingers, or if all else failed, play Mortal Kombat on the Nintendo. Not the Super

Nintendo or Nintendo 64, but the old school Nintendo that would have a grand mal seizure if you pushed the A and B buttons too fast.

I’ll be the first to admit that my kids love video games, but they know how to have fun outside, too. Nothing makes them happier than doing target practice with the neighbor’s cat with Co-Cola on the woodpile, or going back to the creek behind their nanny and papa’s house. We love going fishing together, and we’ve been known to spend hours just sitting outside, talking and watching squirrels. 

Y’all, that’s the stuff that matters. When they get older, they’re not gonna remember what level of Kung-Fu Cumquat they got to; they’re gonna remember those days where you got out the umbrella and took them puddle stomping in the middle of a downpour. Trust me on that one….we talked my granny into climbing this huge hill across from her house during a monsoon , and to this day, that’s one of my favorite memories of her. I don't remember if dinner was late gettin' to the table that night, or if she got mud on her britches. What I remember is that she chose us over her household duties. 

If you feel like your kids are slipping away and losing their people skills, take them outside. Skip rocks. Whittle sticks.  Watch them climb a tree. Build a blanket fort in the yard. For God’s sake, let them run through a sprinkler instead of mortgaging your house to take them to a water park. Take ‘em back to their roots, and they’ll remember where they came from. Bless their hearts like your granny blessed yours.

What were some of your favorite childhood activities that we can pass on to our children's generation? Share your favorites with us so that we can  instill some imagination in our young'uns before it's too late. Y'all be blessed today. Love y'all!