In my childhood years I had the good fortune to live in a quiet cul-de-sac neighborhood with many acres of woods behind the house. Although it didn’t belong to us, the owners didn’t seem to mind us kids exploring and adventuring through the trees. Being nearly 40 now, those were certainly different times… I had a basic game system and of course my favorite tv shows, but there was no entertainment like being in the woods.
I could spend hours walking, climbing up the ravine by reaching for saplings and roots, sending boats made of sticks down the waterfall at a beautiful place we called “green paradise”. In my memory it is magical, moss growing everywhere on boulders that have probably rested there for millenia. I would romanticize a life in the outdoors, building shelters of sticks and bamboo-like grasses, and it was as close to heaven as I could fathom. I don’t remember having a time I had to be home, not that I even had a watch, and I had freedom to use my imagination to its fullest. I could be anything, and yet I knew exactly who I was.
For many years we spent time each week at my grandparent’s house. They lived in an area known for native inhabitants of the past, and finding arrowheads was always a possibility. There were cliffy sandstone areas and a sledding hill that every kid would dream of. They had a huge garden, berry bushes and a shop where my grandpa gave me my own drawer of child-size tools. He had scrap materials and I could create to my heart’s content. Outside of the shop, I made dolls out of gourds and explored the pine forest until it was dark and time to go home.
As I got older, I went outside less frequently. I was a good student and involved in various activities. My priorities changed, the land behind our house had a new owner, and eventually, grandma and grandpa’s place had new owners too. I went away to college and lived in the city. I became a wife, teacher, and mother, and going outside was low on my long list each day. Those days full of freedom supplied countless precious memories, and those memories were also full of cherished people with whom my time was spent.