A little stroll . . .

A little stroll, today, down memory lane . . .

Growing up in a tiny town in upstate New York, I was exposed to all kinds of "different" adventures. I remember in early summer, my brothers and I would all find some white t-shirts and we'd go outside and play mulberry tag. We had three mulberry trees in our front yard. There were plenty of mulberries on the ground to pick up and zing at each other. A direct shot left splendid arrays of colorful, almost tye-dyed effects on those t-shirts. But, the point of the game was to try to get into the trees to pick and throw the berries from a much better vantage point. The least purple kid kinda won the game!

Flashlight tag was another favorite game, as was help tag. Flashlight tag is kind of an obvious game, but help tag was a bit more strategic. Between the Rider's, Redfield's, Reitano's, Macias's, and neighborhood kids there were usually about 20 or so kids playing and one person was "it". At the game's beginning, everyone scatters and the "it" person tries to tag another person. Now there are two "it" people, but the second "it" person doesn't tell anyone else they are "it". It is the strategic portion of the game where they will try to hide with a third person from the original "it" and then tag the third person and now there are three "it" people. It was a terribly engaging game in which no one trusted anyone because you never knew who was it. We hid in trees, in car trunks, under stairs. It was crazy. The final person to not be tagged "it," won the game but began the next game as the initial "it" person! We played all afternoon and into the darkness of the night! Such fun!

And at the Rider house . . . which was no ordinary house . . . there was always music. My parents would invite their friends over and they would inevitably start playing music and there would be singing and dancing and all kinds of what us kids thought was craziness. So, while we allowed our parents to head off the 'deep end,' we would create these elaborate plays with props, stage direction, scripts, and most definitely some seriously dramatic endings. When the parents were all sang out or danced to death, we would assemble them in our audience chairs and make them watch our big production. It didn't occur to me til I am writing this that maybe they thought we were the crazy people! Hmmmmmmm.

We played kickball and dodgeball and rode bikes for hours! We hiked through the woods, down the tracks, and all the while tried to believe we were some serious outdoorsmen looking for animal tracks, scat and other things I'm pretty sure none of us really knew about. Funny though, that some of us grew up to know ALL about those sorts of things! Kinda makes ya smile!

Life seemed simple as I look back now. What I wouldn't do for a little game of help tag, kickball, or even a mulberry fight! Those were good times with great people! And now . . . my aged feet are tired from my 'stroll' and I must return to reality. It sure was a nice trip, though. Hope you enjoyed walking with me down memory lane. Maybe it will have stirred up a few pleasantries of your own! Thanks for the company!