Nostalgia

I am dripping with sweat and very thirsty. It has been about 20 minutes, I am pretty sure, but I am almost there.  If I can stay on this lawn chair for just a while longer, I should beat out my brother beside me who seems to be equally sweaty and thirsty. I know I can hold out longer than him.  This is our regular summertime game- the one where we see who can stay on the lawn chair the longest. Before we started the clock, we’d prepare our space with all the snacks, drinks, magazines, books, and whatever else we needed to occupy our time so that we could hold out longer than our competitors. 

I do not even remember what the prize was. Maybe just bragging rights? Either way, the thought of it now cracks me up. It honestly seems very boring, especially for little kids.

We were creative kids.

Our bunk bed was the stage, and we were the actors. My brother, The Prince, would ride into the room on his Star Wars AT- AT Walker to save me, The Princess, from the Evil Witch, my sister.  I loved playing the princess and she equally loved playing the witch. Or maybe it was the other way around? Either way, we were thespians in our own right, and we continue to love performing arts to this day.

My Red Wagon was transformed into a covered wagon by us placing two milk crates on either side and covering the crates with a towel. We would place our dolls inside and take them on a long adventure.  We would even walk all the way to the grocery store a couple times as a group of kids while pulling the wagon.  We decided we really were pioneers and I was Laura Ingalls Wilder. I mean, isn’t this what all Oregonian kids did during the summer?

My best friend, my sister, and I would ride bikes everywhere, but they were not actually bicycles. They were horses. We would ride all day and often pull our “horses” over and give them water from the hose.  We would feed them grass from the yard- because- certainly they were hungry and thirsty from all of that riding around!

We would make mud pies after rainy weather, which was often… because…Oregon. 

I will never forget the Barbie house that my mom and sweet aunt made for my sister and I and our cousins.  They spent hundreds of hours constructing 3-foot-tall houses out of real materials- wood, carpet, tile, and wallpaper.  They made working lights in each room out of Christmas lights. The rooms were designed to be tall enough for the dolls to walk around in them and for all of the furniture to fit easily.  They were master pieces, and we had the privilege of playing with them for several years. 

We would think of anything and everything to fill up our time on those long summer days.

Thinking of these memories causes me to wish we could have those times back again, to a certain extent (minus all the trauma, of course!).  I wish we could have the pre-cell phone life back again. Let’s be honest, kids these days would lose their minds if they tried to compete in the Lawn Chair Game without an electronic device.  As much as I love technology and all that it has helped us with, there is a part of me that wishes we could get back to the days where we did not have to look at a cell phone, tablet, or other device once every 15 to 20 minutes (or more!).   I am determined to help us all with this terrible addiction and distraction.  Let’s get back to seeing each other and spending quality time with each other. I support you in your mission to work on this and I need your support, as well.

We got this!