I may not remember what I had for dinner on Monday night, or why I bought that ugly blouse with the tags still on it that has been hanging in my closet for 8 months, OR where the hell I parked my car at WalMart....but I do remember a lot of things that matter the most.
As the weather warms up and a new season is on its way, I stare out at the sunshine and the goldfinches eating me out of house and home from their bird feeders. A time of reflection. A time of appreciation for simple things. With our nation in economic, social, and political shambles...I remember when things were simpler.
A month from now, my little niece will be graduating from high school and be forced to 'grow up' during a time where even grownups have a hard time being grown up with the struggles surrounding them. I remember coloring Easter eggs with this same little girl and seeing a bunny rabbit out the window at that very moment. I remember it like it was yesterday.
In the same stadium in which she will be graduating was the SAME stadium I graduated from Lodi High School. The same place where we had our high school football games. I remember vividly taking huge pieces of cardboard, fashioning them into a makeshift sled and sliding down the hill over and over again...laughing ourselves to tears. I doubt they 'allow that' now. But I remember how it felt, and it felt great. At 40, I would LOVE to get my hands on a refrigerator's cardboard box, and trick it out and slide down the hills of the Grape Bowl just ONE more time...just one more time. And laugh my ass off to tears.
I love electronics...my lap top, my i-phone, my 50" plasma HD TV. But I remember when the 'best toys' did NOT have batteries, or electrical cords, OR Wi-Fi. And we loved them and were perfectly happy playing with them. I remember...getting huge industrial sized plastic sheets, a bottle of Palmolive dishsoap, and a hose and sprinkler and construsting the most kick-ass redneck slip `n` slide the world has ever seen! The velocity in which that sucker shot us out would make the US Bobsled Team proud.
Kids nowadays have quads, and dune buggies, and mini-cars and all kinds of crap. I remember...my brothers and I had the most ugly-ass, McGyver'd go-cart you'd ever lay eyes on. We constructed it out of ply wood (all shapes and sizes), some nails and screws, and some kind of lawnmower motor or something. We used to drive that son of a bitch up and down our long driveway, taking turns, and even making a racetrack out of rocks, and branches and whatever we could get our grubby little hands on. It was utter Heaven.
I remember we had a tree house in our backyard high up in an olive tree. It was no architectural work of art by any means, but it was ours and it was our sanctuary. I remember playing "Walnut "War"...What is that? Well, we had the old-school aluminum trash cans. We would use the lids as shields, and stock-pile walnuts and throw them at each other with the force of a major league pitcher. The shields worked pretty well, but sometimes you'd get plummeted by some, and it hurt like hell...but it was great. We loved it.
I remember...sheets + blankets + living-room furniture = the best 'fort' you could ever have. We'd make mansions with several rooms. I remember when riding in the back of the truck like a dog was cool. It's illegal now, 'unsafe', but here I still am. I remember picking oranges from our tree and selling them on the corner in front of our house in the rickety stand that we erected. We would make just enough money to go to the movies and they were the best movies we ever saw because we earned it.
I remember camping as a kid, and I forgot my fishing pole one time. That didn't stop me-NO way. I found a nice, sturdy stick, salvaged some tangled 6-lb. test line that I found along the path, and scored some rusty fish hooks from the man working at the bait shop. After final construction of my fishing pole, I wadded up some wonder bread to my rusty fish hook, sat on the dock with my feet dangling over the edge and dropped her in. I think I probably caught 20 perch that day. And I was probably the cutest, filthiest, most adorably rugged 9-year-old girl you ever saw.
I remember getting a chalkboard eraser, and playing 'steal-the bacon' in our driveway. I also remember running back with it and taking a faceplant on the aggregate...getting a fat-lip and stitches. But it was awesome.
I find that now, people get so wrapped up in things that don't really matter. "keeping up with the Joneses"..."NEEDING" all the latest and greatest technology, buying their kids ridiculously expensive shit that they don't even need. Don't get me wrong...I WAS spoiled and had just about every 'cool' toy there was in existence. But the ones I remember the most, the ones that created the best MEMORIES were the ones that you couldn't buy in any store.
I think if we remember simpler times, and embrace that silly, low-maintenance, creative child inside of us then maybe, JUST MAYBE...The 'bad things' won't seem so bad anymore.
And so I am just sayin'....REMEMBER, reflect, appreciate, embrace, and SHARE....
~Rhonda~
PS...You got any memories to share and pass on...?
