While I was walking one of the dogs this afternoon, I was noticing the shrubbery around the edge of the complex. Not the manicured shrubbery, but the wild stuff on the fringes. I had a flashback to my youth when I would spend lots of time outdoors under some bush or trees pretending. Pretending I lived there. Oftentimes my next youngest sister would be with me and/or some of our friends. We probably raided the kitchen to take food there pretending we hunted or scavenged for it ourselves. Perhaps our dolls would be there with us. I don't remember what exactly we played, just that we seemed to spend a lot of time outside playing. A LOT of time compared to how much I get to spend today. But I didn't have a job back then.
I wasn't bringing home the bacon, frying it up in the pan and then cleaning up afterwards. I wasn't serving in an elected position that required me to attend meetings twice a month and take notes. I wasn't preparing lessons or devotional meetings or Feasts. I was just playing. Boy, I miss those times in a way.
So so so so carefree!
I had the whole summer to pretend, to swim, to ride bikes, to play with friends and as I got older I did do chores like cut the grass, weed the garden, cook meals, clean up afterwards....I began to work more and play less, whether that meant schoolwork or babysitting or planning Feast readings...till now, I hardly play at all and don't even have vacation time to relax.
Now I reheat the collard greens I cooked yesterday and scorch them while I type this blog. ooops! mmm, not bad...pretty good actually...
Ok, I had leftover broccoli and scorched greens for dinner all by myself at 8pm. Sure is different from how I grew up and the first twenty years of married life. But again, it's not so bad...pretty good actually.
2 comments:
we had seven huge pine trees at the end of our street, that grew into a giant roof. we called it (so creative, lol) "seven pines" and spent a lot of time there.
in retrospect childhood seems carefree to me. but i also remember that at the time things often felt huge and tragic and unbearable and end-of-the-world. grass is always greener, i guess.
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