Tauns’ Blog

My recent blog about neighbor children made me start thinking of childhoods of old.  Reminiscing back to my childhood, I think of summer mostly.  The warm mornings wakened by birds singing outside my window.  The sun would crest above the mountains and I would jump out of bed.  It was time to play.  Breakfast and getting dressed were dreaded necessities leading to outdoors.  It felt like an eternity before you could open the door and say, “see ya mom”. 

Everyone would congregate at the same place, approximately at the same time.  The field behind the house wasn’t your normal field.  Adventure lurked in every corner.  The morning was still too early to shed your clothes and don your swimsuit.  Until the sun bore more heat, the fields were wide open and ready for exploration. 

Every house had at least an acre and each acre held intriguing adventures.  As long as irrigation wasn’t taking place that day, the ditches that ran alongside each field created the perfect hut.  I still remember the cattails that created our forts.  The long, thin stem with the brown tuft on top that you we would twist until the stuffing came out.  The leaves were long and provided privacy.  The ground and walls of the forts would be covered in milk weed.

As the day grew hot, we would shed our clothes and run to the pool.  The cool water brought a refreshing continuation of play.  The pool was not huge nor was it amazing by adult standards, but for us it was liquid heaven!  At the deepest it was 4 1/2 feet tall.  That is what made it fun.  When the pool was full with children, the whirlpool would start.  Going as far to the edge as possible everyone would run in step with the person in front of them, creating a vortex in the center of the pool.  Occasionally, your step would falter, or at least you could claim that to enjoy the center of the whirlpool.

After many whirlpools and splashing, the warm cement would call you.  Occasionally, if mom wasn’t watching, you could run to the hot asphalt on the road.  The warmth fought of the chill of the pool.  Although refreshing at first, after an hour or two, the coolness overcame the heat of the day.  The asphalt and concrete were the best.  No towel can or ever will match the warmth provided by concrete or asphalt.

Looking back I think, what happened to the days where children could play outside for hours on end with minimal supervision and those children were still safe?  My children will never get to experience the freedome that my generation was able to.  I don’t even want to think about what it will be like when I have grandchildren.   Even your own backyard isn’t safe anymore.  A couple years ago, here in SLC, a little girl was abducted from her backyard by a neighbor.  She was eventually found dead in his basement.  What has the world come to?  I feel bad that our innocent children aren’t allowed the freedoms that I was able to experience.  With each generation, the children loose more of those childhood freedoms and the memories that come with it.  I much prefer my memories to the current realities!