Love, Faith and Understanding – A Baby Boomer’s View of Childhood
Do you remember the gentle times of childhood where time had no meaning except that you had to be in the house by the time the streetlights were on?; Where summer meant no shoes, being in the sun all day and family trips to the beach? Do you remember running through the sprinklers with the neighborhood kids and not caring that your hair was a tangled mess?
Or what about the night the Comet flew by and you and your whole family laid on the top of the old Chevy and watched the sky for hours?; Or going to sleep in your PJ’s at the drive-in. These are truly the memories a happy childhood is made from.
This windy, brisk weather brought fond memories today of my Dad, Mom and siblings flying kites in the park, or at the end of our cul-de-sac. Always a diamond shaped kite, and we made the tail really long with old sheets ripped into strips, that Mom kept just for that occasion.
Dad would hold it up and we would run fast with the string holder. Then he would run up and show us how to let out the string, a little at a time, gently so the kite would finally catch the wind and nose its way upwards. Then, oh the joy! to watch its exciting dips and flips in the clouds! It was always sad to see it come down, and crash to the earth; But by then we were on to more kiddie things, like the absolute joy of riding down the big grass hills on a big piece of cardboard. You felt like you were really going fast, until your brother went flying by you. Inevitably, you’d crash at the bottom, and then the big trudge uphill to do it all over again!
But I think swinging on the swing was my most favorite thing. The feeling of weightlessness, of touching the sky with your toes outstretched as you climbed higher and higher into the pure joy of being in flight, the wind breezing through your hair and the sun kissing your arms and face.
There are many memories we hold dear of the innocence of childhood. How lucky are we to be the ones who had parents who understood the importance of child-play and family; of learning life’s lessons in a safe environment, with love, faith and understanding.